Antonio Conte will not be on the touchline at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday when his Spurs team take on Manchester City.
Conte, 53, is understood to still be in Italy following successful gallbladder surgery earlier this week.
The manager, who has guided Spurs to fifth in the Premier League table, had recently been taken ill with “severe abdominal pain”, which turned out to be cholecystitis.
In an Instagram post earlier this week Conte wrote: “Thank you for your lovely messages, my surgery has gone well and I’m already feeling better.
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It is not yet known how long he will be away from the Spurs bench.
Assistant boss Cristian Stellini will replace Conte as the man in charge of Spurs on Sunday as the team seek to avenge the 4-2 defeat suffered at the Etihad last month.
Stellini will be the sixth different coach to lead Spurs into a match against City in the last 10 meetings between the clubs. Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Ryan Mason, Nuno Espirito Santo and Conte have all come up against Pep Guardiola since 2019.
After City, Tottenham face Leicester, West Ham and Chelsea this February and travel to AC Milan for the first round of their Champions League last-16 clash.
Stellini spoke in Conte’s absence about the change in preparations on Friday, saying: “It was Antonio who called me and explained the situation. Last week he had a problem that we thought was flu, not a problem like this. When he discovered this, it was a surprise and he was so sad, but we have to keep going and work.
“We had time to speak to Antonio before the surgery about the way to prepare for the [City] game. Then we lost him for 12 hours, the time for him to have the surgery. The surgery was not difficult and it’s important he recovers well – this is the most important thing.”
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