Tottenham Hotspur have suffered an injury blow with striker Richarlison ruled out for three to four weeks.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte confirmed the setback on Friday.
The 25-year-old footballer sustained a hamstring injury when Brazil lost to Croatia in the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal clash.
Tottenham is scheduled to return to action on Monday, December 26, against Brentford away from home.
Conte has since provided an injury update on the Brazilian star forward progress.
CONTE GIVES RICHARLISON’S INJURY UPDATE
“I spoke with the medical department. They said to me we need three or four weeks still,” said Conte, as quoted by The Athletic.
“I followed all my players at the World Cup with my fingers crossed because you know very well you can lose important players, and it happened with Richarlison, who had a problem, Bentancur and Ben Davies.”
The Italian tactician also gave an update on the rest of the players who were participating in the just-ended World Cup, talking about the likes of Croatia’s Ivan Perisic, France skipper Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero of Argentina.
“Only Ivan came back today and had a training session with us,” he added.
“He’s available for the game against Brentford.
“Lloris came back to stay with us, and we want him to also stay on the bench and stay with us for the game against Brentford.
“As you know very well, after the World Cup, give rest to players. Cuti [Romero] he will be available for the next game against Aston Villa.”
With Lloris set to start on the bench against Brentford, that means Fraser Forster is most likely to start the match; that will be his first Premier League game with Spurs, having joined the side from Southampton in the last transfer window period.
Forster made his debut for Conte’s side when they lost 2-0 to Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the Carabao Cup third round last month.
After the clash with Brentford away from home, Tottenham will welcome Aston Villa on Sunday, January 1 and take a trip to Crystal Palace three days later.
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