Conte stays silent on his Spurs future, but he doesn't expect the sack

Antonio Conte has remained coy over his future but admitted he does not expect Tottenham to sack him before the end of the season.

The 53-year-old is expected to leave Spurs when his contract expires in the summer with no talks over extending his terms into a third season.

A poor start to March saw Tottenham exit the FA Cup and Champions League to increase the pressure on Conte, who joked after a goalless draw with AC Milan that he could be sacked.

But, speaking ahead of Saturday's trip to Southampton, the Italian said: "This was a provocation, you understand? About my future.

"A provocation, a joke, 'una battuta’. When you tell something, to joke.

"You asked me about the future and I said to you that you don’t know what happens, because maybe the club can sack me.

"But I repeat, I don’t think the club is thinking this. The club sees every day what me and my staff, we are doing for this club. It was only an answer about my future.

"I think there is not one club that can tell the manager you stay here until the end of the season. You know football is really strange.

"You don’t know what happens tomorrow, you understand? But I repeat, in my opinion we try in every moment to do everything, me and my staff, and I think the club appreciates this.

"Because if you continue to ask me if I sign a new contract, it means that maybe the club appreciates what we are doing, the work that we doing, in this one-year-and-a-half."

Speculation continues over Conte’s potential successor, whether it be before the end of the season or in the summer, despite Spurs getting their Premier League campaign back on track with a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest last weekend.

"I think we have to accept every type of situation," the former Chelsea boss insisted on