Conte acknowledges that he is unsure whether or not a “essential” Tottenham player will play against Manchester United.

Dejan Kulusevski has received plaudits from Antonio Conte, but the manager is unsure if he will play against Manchester United for Tottenham Hotspur.

On Saturday night, Tottenham defeated Everton 2-0 thanks to a deflected Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg goal and a Harry Kane penalty.

However, Richarlison appeared to have sustained a serious injury, so it wasn’t all good news for Tottenham.

The Brazilian was taken off with a calf problem and it’s unclear just how long he will be on the sidelines ahead of the World Cup.

This injury blow particularly hurts Tottenham given that Dejan Kulusevski is out of action too.

The Swede returned from the international break last month with a hamstring injury having played in both of Sweden’s games.

Kulusevski, 22, hasn’t played for Tottenham since and his absence has been heavily felt.

Tottenham have lacked real guile and creativity in the final third without Kulusevski and his return can’t come soon enough.

Kulusevski did return to training at Hotspur Way last week but he still wasn’t included in games against Eintracht Frankfurt and Everton.

There are hopes that Kulusevski will be back very soon but Tottenham boss Conte has played down an immediate comeback.

Conte has told Football London that Kulusevski is ‘working’ on his return to action but doesn’t think he will be ready to face Manchester United on Wednesday.

Conte noted that he doesn’t want to go too quickly with Kulusevski and risk a repeat injury so Tottenham will be patient over the winger, who Conte called an ‘important player’.

“Kulusevski is working,” said Conte. “We are going day by day with him. I don’t know about the game against Manchester United, the doctors are working with him.”

“It’s the same injury [hamstring]. The medical department are working to recover him but at the same time there are situations that you have to go a bit slowly and not accelerate the process. Sometimes if you do that you worsen the situation. We hope to have him in the squad very soon. Deki is an important player for us and Richy is an important player for us,” he added.

With Richarlison and Kulusevski unlikely to face United, Conte faces some tricky decisions.

Conte may add Yves Bissouma to the 3-5-2 formation or add Lucas Moura, Bryan Gil, or Ivan Perisic as a winger and continue to use the 3-4-3 formation.

Conte will be pleased by the 3-5-2 after defeating Brighton and Hove Albion earlier this month. It could be wiser to keep the few attacking alternatives on the bench to influence the game.

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