EUROPA CONFERENCE: Vitesse Arnhem Baptism for Conte at Spurs Tonight

Before making his return to the touchline in the Premier League, Antonio Conte’s first match in charge of Tottenham Hotspur will come in the Europa Conference League tonight when his new side play host to Vitesse Arnhem.

Conte was appointed as the new head coach of Spurs on Tuesday on a deal until the end of next season, the north London club moving quickly to get the 52-year-old after sacking Nuno Espirito Santo on Monday.

The Italian has enjoyed great success in management, notably winning the Premier League in charge of Chelsea in 2017 and the Serie A title last season with Inter Milan.

However, now he takes charge of a club that has won nothing since a League Cup in 2008 and is currently in ninth place in the Premier League, five points outside the top four.

The inaugural Europa Conference League offers a viable path to silverware for Conte at Spurs, but they are already playing catch-up at the halfway stage in Group G.

A 1-0 defeat away to Vitesse in the Netherlands a fortnight ago left Tottenham in third place with four points, two points behind the Dutch side and three adrift of group leaders Rennes.

It is therefore important for Conte that he gets off to a winning start, although it remains to be seen if he will rest key players with an eye on Sunday’s match at Everton.

The likes of Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min have hardly featured in the group stage, but the Vitesse coach already said he hoped to be facing full-strength opposition, including Harry Kane.

TODAY

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