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Ange Postecoglou angrily dismissed claims that Tottenham are damaging the “integrity” of the by fielding weakened teams. travel to on Friday night in the middle of an injury crisis just five days before their biggest game of years with the final.

Spurs boss Postecoglou made it clear he will not take any unnecessary risks but Villa are chasing a spot while have a similar dilemma as they go to who are also vying for a place in the top five.

It means other clubs in the hunt - , , and the like - will be looking on with great interest at the games at Villa Park and Stamford Bridge.

But when the word integrity was even brought up, Postecoglou bit back and insisted that he was doing the best for his club, especially after losing Dejan Kulusevski to a long-term knee injury which will keep him out for “months.”

Postecoglou said: “We’re going to go out there to try and win the game and put out a team which hopefully gets that job done.

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“I’m not sure about the integrity. I think there are teams when we’ve had to field weakened teams because of injury, does that affect integrity?

“People are thinking that some kind of competitive balance exists. That doesn’t exist over the course of a season. I’d be very surprised if people are questioning our integrity to try and win a game of football tomorrow.

“I put a team out that I think will do its best to win a game of football, yeah. It’s been a constant with us all season. There hasn't been a time when we’ve had a three or four week time with our strongest line-up.”

Postecoglou also revealed that Kulusevski will be out for months after he underwent surgery on a knee injury which also puts him out of the Europa League final.

“I’m really disappointed for him,” said Postecoglou. “He’s done so well for us this season and we can’t put a time frame on it but it will be months. I’m reluctant to get into when he will be back but it will put him out for some months.”

Postecoglou also dismissed suggestions that Lucas Bergvall could be back to face Villa and also Timo Werner is out with a hamstring issue. “Lucas has just come out of a boot, he’s just come back onto the grass but it’s very early for him.”

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