Conte not happy with quick restart of Premier League after FIFA 2022

• Antonio not happy that Premier League resumes just 8 days after World Cup.
• Tottenham Hotspur boss hints he might rest players for Brentford clash.
• Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero ruled out of Monday’s game against Brentford.

Antonio Conte, the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, expressed his “not really happiness” at the Premier League starting up just eight days after the World Cup ended and made a suggestion that he would rest certain players for the Boxing Day encounter at Brentford.

Hugo Lloris of France and Cristian Romero of Argentina, who participated in the final on Sunday, have been excluded from Monday’s encounter out of the 12 Tottenham players who played in Qatar, according to manager Antonio Conte.

“It is a strange situation and honestly to play so quickly, only one week after the World Cup, I am not really happy,” Conte said in comments published in British media on Sunday.

Given that we work for four weeks and that some of the players didn’t participate in the World Cup, it is impossible to give them much rest. They are now performing at a level above those World Cup-winning athletes.

“For this reason I think I have to make the best decision for the game against Brentford,” Conte said, adding that the players who returned from the World Cup are “not at the top” level at the moment.

Richarlison will be sidelined for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury he sustained while playing up for Brazil at the World Cup, and Rodrigo Bentancur will miss the match owing to a suspension and a hamstring problem.

Lucas Moura, according to Conte, has been “struggling” with a tendon problem.

“It’s a difficult situation because I have a good player in my squad, but he’s never available. It’s like you don’t have him,” he said.

Tottenham are fourth in the table on 29 points after 15 matches, eight points behind leaders Arsenal who have a game in hand

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