Tottenham: Dembélé Suffers Setback, Kane Nearing Return
Tottenham is close to having Harry Kane return whereas Mousa Dembélé will be day-to-day for the time being.
With the international break wrapping up, Tottenham has received both good news and bad news regarding Mousa Dembélé and Harry Kane.
Beginning with the bad news, Mousa Dembélé will remain on the sidelines with a foot injury. He was withdrawn from the Belgian squad after getting his left foot stomped on during a training session prior to a World Cup qualifiying match against Bosnia & Herzegovina last week.
Because Mauricio Pochettino described this old injury as minor it appears the 29-year-old will be day-to-day for the time being.
“He had a minor problem in his hamstring against Sunderland,” Pochettino told a news conference. (via ESPN FC) “Then it was good but he got a knock in his foot in training — an old problem — and now he’s recovering from that.”
“It’s minor but it’s painful for him. When he touches the ball, it’s painful.”
“We need to assess him too. We have another day tomorrow to see if he can be available. It depends on how he feels tomorrow.”
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Since Mousa Dembélé joined Tottenham back in 2012, the Belgian international has suffered at least one injury in three out of the past five seasons.
Now, players tend to get hurt, though when they continue to pick up knocks, over time the label “injury prone” starts to creep in.
In his debut season with Spurs, Dembélé suffered a hip injury. For two seasons, he was injury-free. Then starting with the 2015-16 campaign, Mousa Dembélé picked up a foot injury (August 2015), a hamstring strain (September 18th) and now re-injured his foot again (last week).
The Belgian midfielder hasn’t missed too much time over the years despite getting hurt, though it is worrisome to lose a key figure in Mauricio Pochettino’s lineup when Spurs are looking to mount a title challenge.
As for Harry Kane, because his ankle injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared, he will be nearing a return some time next week.
It’s too early to say if he will be in contention for any specific fixtures, but at the very least Kane can take part in some light practice to gauge his fitness levels.
“Harry Kane is still out. He’s doing very well but he’s not ready yet,” Pochettino added.
“At the end of this week, he can start to train on the grass a little. He’s very positive, he’s doing well. We don’t know when he’ll play again. We can only explain that he’s doing well.”
“Next week we hope he’ll be training on the pitch — not with the group — but we’re happy.”
With an important fixture coming up against West Bromwich Albion this Saturday, a club that Spurs have only beaten once in their last six meetings, Tottenham will need to be ready for a huge match-up.
While West Brom sit in ninth place and aren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard (just eight goals scored this season), having Spurs’ momentum halted for two weeks after a huge win against Manchester City back on October 2nd, hurts.
Next: Tottenham Opposition Scouting Report: West Brom
With seven fixtures being played in a span of 23 days, Saturday’s contest at The Hawthorne will be Pochettino’s most important match this season with first place on the line.
“Now we must be clever and we need to understand that it will be a tough game, maybe more difficult than Manchester City,” Mauricio Pochettino stated.
“If we’re not focused, or if we don’t play with the same intensity, the same passion I think that we will suffer a lot against a team that is very physical and strong.”
“In the Premier League you can never play 80 or 70 percent of your capacity, you always need to be 100 percent.”