Team news ahead of Saturday’s north London derby

Antonio Conte will make late decisions on players who returned from international duty ‘with some physical problems’ ahead of Saturday’s north London derby at the Emirates (12.30pm).

Hugo Lloris withdrew from the France squad last week and he’s one of the players to be assessed following the squad’s final training session on Friday.

Speaking to SPURSPLAY after training on Thursday, Antonio told us: “To be honest, we have to check some players because they returned from the international break with some physical problems. Tomorrow, we have another training session to check their physical condition and then to make the best decision for Saturday. Hugo is one of the players with some physical problems, but we hope to see him on Saturday.”

Asked later in his press conference if any players were definitely out, Antonio replied: “Honestly, I don’t want to speak about injuries, because I don’t want to give an advantage to Arsenal, but, for sure, have to face some physical problems. We have to know, also, that we just start to play the first game of a run where we have to play 13 games in 43 days, so we have to try to make the best solution and not take big risks. I need to count on the whole squad.”

Meanwhile, Antonio was delighted to see Oliver Skipp return to action for England Under-21s over the international break - he played 71 then 20 minutes against Italy and Germany, his first action since pre-season - with Matt Doherty and Djed Spence also gaining important minutes.

“For Skippy, it was important,” added Antonio. “It was the same for Matthew, for Spence to play games and, for sure, Skippy played his last game in January and has been suffering a bit to find again his physical condition, but we are talking about a really good guy with a great desire, great will and it was important for him to play one game and then 20 minutes in the second game.”