Tottenham boss Antonio Conte is looking forward to renewing acquaintances with Christian Eriksen at the weekend.
Conte signed the Denmark international from Spurs when he was in charge at Inter Milan in January 2020 and the pair won the Serie A title together the following season.
Eriksen is now at Brentford and enjoying a remarkable comeback from the cardiac arrest he suffered playing for his country in Euro 2020.
The 30-year-old comes up against his former club for the first time on Saturday as Spurs visit the Bees.
Conte, who admitted to meeting with Eriksen when the Dane returned to London in January, said: “I’m very happy to see him play football again.
“In June it was terrible, those images were terrible for everybody. We suffered a lot for him and his family.
“To see him for a game will be a pleasure for me. It’s incredible because not long ago what happened.
“To see him playing again makes me very happy because I know football is life.
“To have this opportunity is great for him and his family because now they come back to have a normal life.”
Spurs will visit west London needing to win after Arsenal’s impressive victory against Chelsea in midweek saw them move level on points.
The Gunners play again before Spurs at the weekend as the pressure cranks up in the final six games.
Conte said. “Six games to go. We have to stay in this race.
“Now for sure, in this race I want to try to stay until the end. We know very well the difficulty to compete with other teams.
“I don’t think Chelsea is in this race. They are in this moment on a different level. They are there because they missed some games but they don’t stay in this race.
“We have to fight with Arsenal, they showed yesterday they are in good form, Man Utd, West Ham and Wolverhampton.
“Now we have to fight until the end. The last second of the last game, we will see which will be our place in the table.”
Spurs handed Oliver Skipp a new contract on Wednesday and Conte says the youngster will be a big player for the future.
He has not featured for Spurs since January after an ongoing injury but the Italian is still thinking big things of his midfielder.
“I’m very happy for Skippy because we are talking about a good player, a young player from the academy,” Conte said.
“We know very well a player who has developed. He’s not only a good player, we are talking about a fantastic guy.
“He’s having a bit of problem with his injury. I know his frustration. I think his new contract shows we trust him a lot.
“He’ll be very important for the present and future of Tottenham.”
