SAMBA CLASS
Boys from Brazil ready to do battle in London derby as Conte hails both ‘amazing No.9s’
ANTONIO CONTE sees the north London derby as a battle between the Boys from Brazil.
Not least because he knows only one of Gabriel Jesus and Richarlison will get the coveted No.9 shirt at the World Cup – even if they end up sharing the striker’s role alongside Neymar.
“We are talking about two amazing No.9s,” said Spurs manager Conte. “The Brazil coach Tite is lucky because you can count on two fantastic strikers. Then Neymar is more a winger-striker.
“To have players like this, for sure, you are ready to face the World Cup with great ambition.
“It is a short competition. You have to play every three or four days and for this reason, you need to have players with the same quality and don’t take risks to drop the quality.
“You can start with Richy and then another game you start with Jesus.
“We are talking about two really top players and every manager has to be happy to have this type of problem.”
Both players have made impressive starts following their moves to the capital, with Conte signing Richarlison as back-up to all three of his attacking players – important today with winger Dejan Kulusevski suffering from a hamstring injury.
Richarlison will be particularly eager to play today having snubbed Arsenal to sign for Tottenham.
“Is he worried about a reaction? He has no fear,” said Conte. “He is a player that in every moment, also during the training sessions, shows great commitment but for sure the first thing that I see in him is he has no fear.
“He is not scared about anybody. Not about the atmosphere, about the noise. He is really strong. It’s difficult to play against him because he has no fear.”
That said, in going for Jesus instead, Conte feels Arsenal have also added extra character.
The Spurs gaffer said: “Getting Jesus from a club like Manchester City, Arsenal have signed a player who is used to having that winning mentality. “It’s important because I can see they’ve improved the level – not only the quality but the mentality at Arsenal. “And I’m not surprised he is scoring goals because I know Gabriel Jesus and his value. He was an important player at City. The problem was Manchester City had a fantastic squad and sometimes he was on the bench. “Jesus wanted to go to Arsenal to play regularly. This shows you the quality of City’s squad. This is the difference between the title contenders and the other teams.”