Dejan Kulusevski will return to Tottenham’s matchday squad for the first time in more than 500 days for Monday’s visit of Coventry, but Savio and Lucas Bergvall will be absent.
Spurs have spent the majority of this week in a warm weather training camp in Marbella, but Savio was absent after he reported a “muscular problem” on Tuesday and Bergvall is sidelined for “two weeks” with a knee issue.
Those absences along with Kulusevski’s ever-improving fitness have opened the door for the Swedish playmaker to potentially play on Monday night after a serious knee injury has sidelined the attacker since the end of the 2024-25 season.
“Yes, Kulusevski on the bench. We had a meeting with the medical staff. They gave the OK and it’s great news. I think it’s one of the best news after Everton game last season because Deki he suffered too much. He deserves to feel emotion on the pitch,” boss Roberto De Zerbi told a press conference.
“Unfortunately Savio on Tuesday… before we leave for Marbella, he felt a muscular problem. We lost him for some weeks unfortunately.
“And Lucas Bergvall because he had a problem at the beginning of the game in Manchester.
“The day after Manchester (United), Sunday, he came to (the) training ground to our medical staff. And I think two weeks (out).”
De Zerbi provided a positive update on right-back Pedro Porro, who could be available for the trip to Chelsea next Saturday.
However, bottom-of-the-table Spurs will be missing seven players for the clash with Coventry with Rodrigo Bentancur suspended for a fixture where the hosts will be desperate to end a six-match winless start to the new Premier League campaign.
“Coventry is a good team. They played a fantastic Championship last season,” De Zerbi said.
“But we are Tottenham, keeping humility, keeping what you want, but we want to show to be good enough to win the games, especially if we deserve to win the games.”
Kulusevski could be required to help Spurs get off the mark in the league after a torrid spell on the sidelines with a patella injury, which required a second procedure in March to fix the long-standing problem.
After Kulusevski missed Tottenham’s Europa League triumph in 2025, the whole of last season and this summer’s World Cup, De Zerbi was delighted to tell the 26-year-old on Saturday that he would be in the matchday squad against Coventry.
De Zerbi revealed: “ I said to him, ‘I spoke with the medical staff and they gave me the OK’ and he smiled like this (wide).
“And we are happy. We are very, very happy. It’s not football. I’m not speaking about football. OK, he’s a special player, but we are speaking about different things. He suffered a lot and his reaction was great.”
Richarlison remains unavailable after he was left out of Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad following an eventful end to the summer transfer window – but featured and scored for the club’s Under-21s on Tuesday in a Jersey Mike’s Trophy match at Cheltenham.
On Saturday, Richarlison posted on his Instagram story “you are right” alongside a story where ex-Everton forward Duncan Ferguson criticised De Zerbi’s treatment of the Brazil forward.
But De Zerbi insisted: “It’s not my problem any more. You have to ask Vinai (Venkatesham), to Johan (Lange), it’s not my problem.”