Spurs team news ahead of Arsenal - Dier still out, Bergwijn could return

Antonio Conte has confirmed that Eric Dier remains unavailable for the north London derby, but that Steven Bergwijn should return to the matchday squad.

Defender Eric hasn’t featured since our last Premier League game, a 1-0 win at Watford on New Year’s Day, while attacker Steven picked up a calf problem in the Boxing Day win over Crystal Palace.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, Antonio confirmed: “Dier is suffering a little problem, a little muscular problem, and he’s not fit for the game against Arsenal.

“Steven Bergwijn has recovered from his injury, he’s had two training sessions with us but, for sure, he’s not 100 per cent fit at the moment. But I need him to come onto the bench. I’ve asked him about his availability for the game against Arsenal. For me, he’s an important option after (Heung-Min) Son was injured.

“We have many injuries, then there is always the COVID situation every day, you have to check and sometimes you find a surprise, but we are preparing the game against Arsenal. At this moment, all the teams are suffering injury problems, COVID situations, international competition, and Tottenham is the same. We have to try to recover, very soon, the players who are injured.”

Antonio said earlier in the week that he doesn’t expect Son to return until after the break in domestic fixtures later this month but gave an update on Cristian Romero’s impending return when speaking to Spurs TV, while also confirming that he’s “checking one situation” in relation to a possible COVID-19 diagnosis in the squad.

“About Cristian Romero, he is almost ready and he is having parts of training sessions with us,” he said. “I think that now we have to be calm and to take the best decision for the player, but he's very close to coming back to us and to play – this is good news.

“We are checking on a new possible case of COVID and then there are the injuries that we are having for a long time.”

Kick-off against Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday is at 4.30pm UK.