Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte is set to be back in the dugout for his side’s trip to Leicester City in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon but he’ll be without several first-team stars.

Is Cristian Romero available against Leicester?

Lilywhites skipper and no.1 Hugo Lloris is set for an extended spell on the sidelines after he was ruled out for six-to-eight weeks with a knee ligament injury, whilst another key defensive piece in Cristian Romero is suspended after his red card in the 1-0 win over Manchester City last weekend.

On the day that Harry Kane surpassed club legend Jimmy Greaves to become Spurs’ all-time goalscorer with his 267th goal, the Argentina centre-back received two yellow cards, the first coming after a crunching tackle on Erling Haaland before he left a trialling leg on Jack Grealish.

He will now serve a one-game ban and will be back available for Tottenham’s clash with AC Milan in the Champions League, as well as their next top-flight encounter, where they welcome West Ham United to north London.

Should Conte start Japhet Tanganga?

Conte is expected to turn to Davinson Sanchez as Romero’s replacement as he came on for the final few minutes against the Citizens following the 24-year-old’s early bath.

However, the Italian should consider a rare Premier League start for Japhet Tanganga as he could prove to be a far more reliable choice on the right-hand side of the back three.

The 23-year-old youth product has struggled for minutes under Conte ever since he replaced Nuno Espirito Santo in the dugout back in November 2021 but he has impressed with back-to-back clean sheets in the FA Cup since the turn of the year, helping Spurs to wins over Portsmouth (1-0) and Preston North End (3-0) – he even bagged an assist in the latter outing.

Aside from that, Tanganga has managed just one top-flight appearance this term but given that Sanchez has often been lambasted as a “liability” to the side, it could make sense for the former England U21 international to replace Romero instead.

Albeit against lower-league opposition, the Hotspur Way gem has failed to register a Sofascore rating below 7.2 for either of those cup wins.

In the Preston game, Tanganga started in the right central defensive role and was not just a rock but he also displayed exceptional ball-playing tendencies.

From a joint-second high of 104 touches (22 more than the aforementioned Colombian who was deployed in the Eric Dier role), Tanganga made 92% of his 87 passing attempts, had two of three successful dribbles and made two interceptions, per Sofascore.

It was a display that was hailed as “very composed” by journalist Kat Lucas after the full-time whistle, perhaps a stark contrast to the inconsistencies of his competitor, Sanchez.

Having even been lauded as a “huge talent” by Spurs podcaster and writer Chris Miller in the past, it could be time for Conte to finally unleash Tanganga from the shackles on his return to the sidelines.

If the Tottenham boss wants to build on last weekend’s euphoric success, then he ought to opt for the homegrown ace over Sanchez today.

AND in other news, Paratici could repeat his Perisic trick in Spurs summer swoop for £25m-rated “leader”…