Conte in race to return for City clash after surgery

ANTONIO CONTE refuses to give up on the idea that he can attend Tottenham’s clash with Manchester City tomorrow, just four days after the operation to remove his gallbladder. Conte will make a final decision in consultation with his surgeon today. ‘We have time,’ said his assistant Cristian Stellini. ‘Surgery was good and he is recovering well.’

Conte is in Italy, where he was spending two days with his family when the stomach pains troubling him during the FA Cup tie at Preston worsened. He sought medical attention and, when scans showed inflammation of his gallbladder, he had an operation on Wednesday. ‘We thought it was flu, not a problem like this. He was so sad when he realised,’ Stellini added. ‘It’s not easy for him not to be here with us but health is more important than everything.’ Conte was out of contact for only 12 hours, the time during his surgery and the immediate recovery. Then he was back on the phone to Stellini, making plans to avenge last month’s sobering 4-2 defeat at City, when Spurs surrendered a 2-0 lead. Recordings of the training sessions have been sent to Conte, who plans to select the team in tandem with Stellini. Richarlison and Lucas Moura are back from injuries and Pedro Porro is available to make his debut after arriving from Sporting Lisbon on deadline day. Meanwhile Pep Guardiola, who confirmed that John Stones is set for a month out with a hamstring injury, insisted that City did not entertain scrambling for a left back after Joao Cancelo’s departure. He said: ‘We talked about that but it took three minutes. I said, “We have to take a look”. Yeah, we could have gone into the market and paid a huge amount of money for one left back. ‘Maybe we could have done it but we’ll wait four months instead.’