Tottenham boss Antonio Conte provides worrying Oliver Skipp update ahead of Aston Villa clash

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte can smell blood after Arsenal lost against Crystal Palace on Monday night, but won’t take his eyes off the ball if Spurs are to secure Champions League football.

The Gunners are now on the same points as Spurs - 54 - even if they still have the marginal advantage of a game in hand.

For Tottenham, the last three games have brought improved performances and importantly nine points which have breathed life into their chase for Champions League football.

But to finish in the top four they will have to keep it going against Aston Villa this weekend.

This season, Spurs have been fortunate with injuries to crucial duo of Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, with neither having to spend prolonged periods of time on the treatment table.

But the issue of Oliver Skipp is one that worries Conte.

There were hopes that the English midfielder would be ready for the game against Newcastle after the international break, but even though he’s improving he’s not quite there yet.

Spurs enter into a very crucial stage of the season, where they will want all their players to be available, but it doesn’t look like Skipp will be able to take part at least for another weekend, which will be frustrating given how well he started life under Conte.

The Tottenham manager confirmed he was still not back in training: “About Oliver Skipp, we have to wait.

“He’s not ready, he’s still not ready and we need to have patience with him and sort this problem out.”

There was some good news though, with the duo of Ryan Sessegnon and Sergio Reguilón returning to team training after sitting out the last couple of games through injury.

Conte added: “Two good [pieces of] news because Ryan Sessegnon and Sergio Reguilon had the training session with us.

“First training session with Ryan for a long time compared to Sergio and for sure we need to pay attention to him but it’s good that he and Sergio are back.”