Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte admits the club endured a "terrible" week after a COVID-19 outbreak.

Conte has said his affected players will take time to recover and warned the Premier League is in trouble with the current situation.

"Last week was terrible," Conte said on Wednesday. "It was terrible because the Government decided – I also think in the right way - to close our training ground and stop our training sessions.

"Thursday, Friday and Saturday we were without training sessions. But on Sunday, the Government reopened our training centre and we started again to work with not many players — because we also had problems with Under-23s. We started with 13 or 14 players. But today we had training with 16 players and more young players.

"For the players back in training, they need a bit of time to be fit and find again a good physical condition. When you have Covid, it is not only ten days. Many times, this virus brings with it a situation that makes your body not so strong. For this reason, you have to go slowly, also because you risk having players injured after Covid.

"Some players tomorrow, they can't play. As I said before, players are back in training and today two players are back in training for the first time. And yesterday another player. But as you know well, they need to be fit to play. Surely tomorrow I'll put these players on the bench for 15 to 20 minutes at the end. They have in their legs 20 or 25 minutes to play with us.

"I think is the big problem that we must be [prepared] to face in the future. To bring these players affected by Covid to be fit and avoid injuries. This could be the big problem in the future. Not the ten days. After ten days you have players available but then you have to pay attention to the way to train, whether the body is ready to work in a good way. You have to pay attention, moderate the training to avoid injuries.

"This is the big problem, not only for Tottenham but for other clubs with Covid-hit players."