Antonio Conte Set To Return To Tottenham This Week After Recovery From Gallbladder Surgery

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is on the road to recovery after surgery and he his expected back at the club in the coming days.

Conte has been in Italy recovering after undergoing a gall bladder operation last month, following a diagnosis of cholecystitis, but Spurs have done well in his absence with assistant coach Christian Stellini on the touchline enjoying a 100 per cent record in charge.

Stellini has now managed four games without Conte and he has secured victories in each of those matches.

After Conte was sent off in the Champions League against Sporting Lisbon, Stellini  took charge of the first team, as he secured a huge 2-1 win away to French club Marseille in November, guiding the club to finish top of their Champions League Group D ahead of Frankfurt, Sporting and Marsielle.

The 47-year-old also took charge of the 1-0 win at home to Premier League champions Manchester City on February 5th, before Conte returned to oversee defeats away to Leicester City (4-1), and AC Milan (1-0).

Conte further went back to his home nation to recover fully, having initially come back too soon and suffered a health complication as a result, and with Stellini at the helm again, Spurs saw off West Ham 2-0 last weekend and followed that up with another 2-0 victory over Chelsea on Sunday despite them not recording a win against the Blues since 2018, or at their new stadium.

The win over Graham Potter's side at the weekend, moved them four points clear of fifth-place Newcastle, who have to games in hand.

It also moved Conte's side 14 points above Chelsea, who have now won just twice in their past 15 games and have only managed four goals this calendar year.

Stellini will once again hand over an in-form side to his boss when he eventually returns to Tottenham, as he revealed on Tuesday that Conte's absence from the dugout could be coming to an end soon, as he will be back' in London this week.

"Our desire was this to win, play a great game and to fight for every ball and we are happy for the fans, the club and of course for us and Antonio who is still at home... He told reporters.

"At the moment we're waiting for Antonio to come back but Antonio is still here because we work with him from here and we speak a lot.

"My expectation is that Antonio will be back this week.  He's not in charge for this game, but our doctor decides the right moment for Antonio to be back.

"It's a question for our medical department because they check with the doctor who did the surgery, they check today every day for the right day for Antonio to come back."

Though the Italian will not be in charge when they take on Sheffield United in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

The north London side travel to Bramall Lane to take on their Championship opponents in the fifth round on Wednesday night, a game that comes too soon for Conte.

Spurs were knocked out of the competition at the same stage last season by second-tier opposition when they lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough and Stellini who is set to name name the same squad that beat Chelsea, has said that Wednesday's game at Bramall Lane would not be easy.

"We have to progress, we have to try to win the game. It's an important competition, we take seriously all the competitions and we want to follow our momentum and we want to bring the same energy we had in our stadium to an away game," he said.

"We will pick the right team to play a great match and we can win also by making some changes. We completely trust all the players we have so we can make changes and nothing has to change.

"Last season we knew very well that we were disappointed after the match in Middlesbrough."