Tottenham Hotspur manager Roberto De Zerbi has dropped a big hint on James Maddison's fitness ahead of the trip to Aston Villa on Saturday.
Tottenham are looking to build on their first Premier League win in four months against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend, when they face another opponent in the Midlands on Sunday.
Villa are chasing a top-four finish to secure Champions League football for next season, which they could also achieve by winning the Europa League.
Unai Emery's men were beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in the first leg of their semi-final tie on Thursday night, and the Spaniard will want his side to bounce back against Spurs.
Forest are in a rich vein of form right now and moved five points clear of Tottenham and the relegation zone after thrashing Sunderland 5-0 at the Stadium of Light last Friday, to significantly boost their survival chances.
Vitor Pereira's men sit on 39 points with Spurs a further five points back on 34, which begs the question whether the usual magic 40-point mark will actually be enough this season.
Unless Forest and Leeds suffer a huge collapse, it realistically looks as though it is a straight shootout between Tottenham and their London neighbours to see who drops into the Championship.
De Zerbi Drops James Maddison Fitness Hint
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with Villa on Sunday evening, De Zerbi hinted that Maddison would be unavailable to play minutes again.
The Italian coach has named the 29-year-old on the bench for the club's last two matches against Brighton and Wolves following his return from injury, but he hasn't been deemed fit enough to get onto the pitch.
De Zerbi's comments suggest it could be a similar situation this time around too, stating his importance for the next three matches even though there are four remaining.
Tottenham Need Maddison More Than Ever
It's fair to say that De Zerbi has been hit hard with injury issues since taking the reins from Igor Tudor last month.
The Italian has already lost Cristian Romero, Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons and, potentially, Dominic Solanke to season-ending injuries.
De Zerbi would have been looking to the likes of Kudus and Simons to provide some creativity and quality in the final third during the run-in, and the latter was beginning to do that before rupturing his ACL at Molineux.
While the 46-year-old manager can still call upon the likes of Mathys Tel in the coming weeks, he would love to have Maddison available on the pitch to help with goal contributions.
Judging by his latest comments, the Englishman's availability is more likely to come at home to Leeds on May 11.