Spurs need to turn around some poor form if they are to eliminate AC Milan from the Champions League.
Antonio Conte is back after observing his team from afar during his recovery from poor health. His absence has seen his team first win two big games before losing two games they should’ve really won.
A pair of London derby 2-0 wins (West Ham and Chelsea) have been forgotten since losing to Sheffield United in the FA Cup fifth round and Wolves in the league. Both without scoring.
The Italian’s job is on the line ahead of the second leg tie against AC Milan.
t
Spurs’ season is drifting seemingly without direction towards an anti-climactic end to the season.
And Conte is taking his share of the blame from Tottenham fans, who have grown tired of his conservative tactics and questionable substitutions.
Spurs defender Ben Davies acknowledged the significance of Conte being present for the Milan clash.
“It’s been a while now but we have a huge game on Wednesday and it is very important he is with us,” he said.
Conte has cut a disgruntled figure on the touchline this season, but stand-in boss Cristian Stellini echoed Davies’s hope that Tottenham can be revived by their manager’s return.
“Antonio will be a massive boost for us until the end of the season,” Stellini said.
“It is important that Antonio is back. The team show to Antonio it is alive. They want to win, they want to dominate the game.”
Milan suffered a similarly poor domestic result at the weekend, going down 2-1 against Fiorentina as they lost ground in the race for second in Serie A, with their away form much to blame for their failed title defence this season.
Tottenham have conceded the first goal in five of their seven UCL games this season. So defence might be the name of the game for Conte.