Tottenham Hotspur's assistant manager Cristian Stellini has not ruled out the possibility that Antonio Conte could be in the dugout for Sunday's Premier League game against Manchester City.
The Italian underwent an operation to remove his gallbladder on Wednesday after complaining about "severe abdominal pain".
Following the news, the expectation was that Conte would at least miss Sunday's home meeting with the Premier League champions.
However, Stellini has hinted that Conte could make an unexpected return to the dugout when he was asked whether the Tottenham boss would be watching the game from home.
"We don't know yet, the decision will be made on Saturday," Stellini said. "We are ready to do everything but Antonio and the doctors that did the surgery for him will probably have to decide.
"We have 48 hours, we have two days to decide. We have time. Everything is possible. The surgery was good, he is recovering well. At the moment he is at home."
Stellini revealed that Conte contacted him not long after the surgery to discuss Sunday's fixture.
The Tottenham assistant told reporters: "After the surgery it is normal you don't have the energy to speak about (the game).
"But immediately when he recovered well from the surgery, he called me back and he started to talk about training and the next game."
Although it remains to be seen whether Conte will appear on the touchline, Stellini stated that the Spurs boss will be involved in selecting the starting lineup.
"We will do it together," he added. "Antonio is not here to get a feeling about the training and everything so I will explain it to him and we will decide it together."
Tottenham face Man City for just the second time in a matter of weeks, after giving up a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 when the two sides met at the Etihad Stadium on January 19.
Spurs have won their two games since that defeat, beating Fulham 1-0 in the Premier League and securing a comfortable 3-0 win over Preston North End in the FA Cup last weekend.
Pedro Porro completed a transfer from Sporting Lisbon on transfer deadline day, and the right wing-back could be handed his Tottenham debut on Sunday.
The Spaniard was contracted to Man City between 2019 and 2022, but he left the club without making a single appearance for the first team.
Tottenham are currently sat in fifth position, and they are three points adrift of Manchester United and Newcastle United, who sit in fourth and third place respectively. body check tags ::
