Antonio Conte recalls Leeds United memory and explains difficulty in Tottenham facing Whites

Conte bagged his first Premier League win as Spurs boss against Leeds back in November 2021 after Dan James had fired Marceo Bielsa's side ahead one minute before the interval. Second half strikes from Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg and Sergio Reguilon then turned the game on its head as Spurs sealed a 2-1 victory but Conte says he can still recall the difficulty of the game and expects more of the same just under one year on.

Jesse Marsch's side are heading to Tottenham seeking a third Premier League win on the spin following recent victories against Liverpool and Bournemouth and Conte uis wary of the fact that Marsch made ten changes to his side for the midweek Carabao Cup loss at Wolves. Conte will be facing Marsch for the first time and said of Leeds at his pre-match press conference: "I remember very well my first win, it was a really tough game against Leeds. The time I remember very well but the characteristics are always the same.

"We're talking about a team with great energy, they play football with great intensity, they put a lot of pressure, they have a lot of energy and in this moment I think it is a really tough opponent because we're at the last game of this marathon. We played 13 games but every game was really, really tough and we lost a lot of energy. Physical energy and mental energy.

"For this reason tomorrow we have to pay great attention. We prepared very well to understand that we have to pay more attention to be more good defensively because in the last seven games we conceded in every game a goal. This is unusual for us and it means maybe we need to be more focused, to be more compact and to show more compactness in the game. At the same time to try get three points but for sure the game won't be easy.

"This is the last game, they played less than us and also in the last game I saw their whole team was rested but we want to finish in the best possible way. To finish with a win would be very important for us because with qualification for the Champions League, if you continue to stay in the top four in this first part of the season it means you did a good job."

Spurs sit fourth in the Premier League table but Conte's side have lost three of their last four league games and suffered a 2-0 reverse at Carabao Cup hosts Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night. Tottenham have also failed to score in the first half for eight games in a row and injury to Son Heung-Min has placed even more dependency on England captain Harry Kane ahead of the final round of games before the six-week break for the World Cup.

Asked why his side had not scored for eight first halves in a row and how he could fix it, Conte explained as quoted by football.london: "Many, many players, the strikers, we lost all the strikers. Then also when you lose your strikers, also you have to change something in your system.

"We risk against Nottingham Forest to play without striker because Harry gave me his availability only on the morning of the game. For sure you have to try to change something. When I have all the players available, for sure I like to play with three strikers and Perisic, he is not a striker but an offensive winger so we tried to play with offensive players. When it happens this type of situation, you have to struggle to find other situations to manage, to manage in the best possible way this period."