Alasdair Gold has claimed on his YouTube channel that Oliver Skipp has been leading the fitness leaderboards in Tottenham Hotspur training over the last few weeks.
The Tottenham academy graduate Skipp was afforded his first start of the season by Conte on Sunday evening with Pierre Emile Hojbjerg out injured, but he was unable to affect the game enough on his own.
Skipp was a breakout performer last campaign under Conte starting a lot of games early on in the Premier League, only for an injury to stop his progress and he ended up not playing again from February until last Sunday.
However, he appears to have come back even stronger with Gold claiming he’s been top of the fitness charts in training over the last month, which may be why Conte handed him a start.
(19:15) “He came off after 66 minutes I thought his fitness levels looked good from what I understand he’s been leading Spurs’ fitness testing for the past four weeks as well, like the fittest player, so that’s a good sign.
“Conte said his performance was good afterwards and having obviously mentioned the fact that it’s nine months since his last start as well so he was relatively [pleased] I thought without that it was a decent performance for a 22-year-old chucked into that midfield in Hojbjerg’s absence.
Should Skipp be starting for Spurs?
Yes!
No!
“If you take into account nine months out the starting lineup as well I still thought it was quite positive, it was quite bright it was one of those things I think you can take from the game as that was good.”
TIF Thoughts on Skipp’s position at Spurs…
It will have been encouraging for both Spurs fans and Conte to see how naturally Skipp slotted back into the midfield after so many months without a competitive start, and he was actually a top performer for Tottenham earning the second-highest player rating from Gold on Sunday with a 7/10.
Skipp, however, will know that he has a tough battle on his hands to earn more starts in the Premier League because once Hojbjerg returns he will probably come straight back in given how often he’s played both last season and this campaign under Conte.
However, given his age and the fact he’s one of the club’s own, Conte may feel like he can offer a bit more energy and buzz on the pitch when required in some tougher games, compared to someone such as Yves Bissouma who’s struggled to adapt tactically since his summer move, according to the Italian boss.