James Maddison is expected to be fit to feature for Tottenham in their clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday night
Roberto De Zerbi says "special" James Maddison has recovered from his injury scare and backed the Tottenham star to give Crystal Palace a fright on Halloween night.
Maddison was forced off injured in last weekend's win at Chelsea, which came just five days after he marked his first Premier League start in nearly 18 months by scoring a thunderous goal against Coventry.
The England playmaker has had a torrid time with injuries and Spurs have been managing his return from anterior cruciate ligament damage. His substitution last Saturday looked to be another setback but De Zerbi has eased those fears and highlighted his importance in the squad.
He said: "James is available. This week he didn’t work like the other players, but for tomorrow he is available and he is a special player for us. A special player because of the character and he has unique characteristics.
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“For James or the players who are coming from a long injury, they have to work more than the other players, but he has already four or five weeks he is working very hard and consistently.
“So, I think it’s not a problem if he loses two days (training), but then we have to analyse if we take risk or not. If we take risk like Pedro Porro (against Aston Villa) or (Dejan) Kulusevski.
“We are lucky to have a big squad and it’s important to not take risk with new injuries.”
Destiny Udogie is also available for Spurs after missing the last two matches, while Mathys Tel will be hoping to keep his spot in the starting line-up after his sensational solo goal at Stamford Bridge.
The young Frenchman has had a hit-and-miss start to his Spurs career but De Zerbi hopes he can now kick on.
He added: "I'm proud and happy but first of all for him because I love working for the players, to improve the players. I lost in my career many chances to become a better player.
"A focus of my job is to work on the improvement of the players. Mathys is working very hard. He's a smart guy with big potential. I am here to help my players"