Tottenham share Richarlison injury update after forward misses FA Cup clash

Richarlison was expected to start the game at Deepdale having seemingly returned to full fitness following a hamstring injury.

But the forward was not even named on the bench by Antonio Conte, who instead started a front three of Dejan Kulusevski, Son-Heung min and Ivan Perisic.

Richarlison has struggled for fitness since his big money move from Everton last summer, having sustained a calf injury back in October and has played just 45 minutes of football since the World Cup because of the aforementioned hamstring issue.

Thankfully for Spurs fans, Cristian Stellini has revealed that he does not expect the 25-year-old to be on the sidelines for long despite his most recent absence suggesting otherwise.

‘Richarlison is not available today, it’s not a big problem, so we have only to wait some days,’ the Italian explained ahead of the Preston game.

This means that the forward should be back in time to feature in Spurs’ next game – against Manchester City next Sunday.

February is set to be a big month for the north London side with home clashes against City and Chelsea, as well as the first-leg of their Champions League tie against AC Milan.

Conte made seven changes to his side for the Preston game, most notably dropping Harry Kane to the bench, with the striker only one goal away from becoming Tottenham’s all-time top goalscorer.

Hugo Lloris, Cristian Romero, Djed Spence and Pape Matar Sarr were also absent from the matchday squad but new signing Arnaut Danjuma was on the bench.

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