Tottenham Expect Harry Kane Return Before End of Season
By Ryan Wrenn
Tottenham relaxed if only somewhat with news on Monday that Harry Kane’s ankle injury sustained against Millwall on Sunday isn’t quite as bad as first feared.
Though the injury itself is similar to the one Kane sustained when Tottenham faced Sunderland in September, the club hopes to have their star man back within seven weeks.
Kane missed ten matches in all competitions through that the stretch of that prior injury. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Spurs’ goals all but dried up over that period. Mauricio Pochettino will be anxious to limit another fallow period as the club attempts to earn a second consecutive year of Champions League football.
Thankfully, Kane’s contributions when healthy have helped propel Tottenham into a favorable position as they enter the last two months of the season. With 19 goals scored in 22 appearances, Kane is in the hunt with Everton’s Romelu Lukaku for the Premier League’s Golden Boot.
The England international won that competition last year of course, and came close the season before that. He is consequently one of the most irreplaceable components of Pochettino’s Spurs side.
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Replace him is what Spurs will have to do, at least for the next few weeks. That effort will provide the dominant narrative at the club for the remainder of the season.
Last time out, Pochettino made do with some combination of Heung-min Son and Vincent Janssen.
The former is not a natural striker. He did feature there at Hamburg, but matured into a wide forward at Bayer Leverkusen. It’s in that position where he’s enjoyed most of his success at Tottenham.
The latter is a natural striker, but one still adjusting to the rigors of the Premier League. He was brought in for a tidy sum over the summer as Kane’s understudy, and still might be that man in the long run. At the moment it is far from clear if he can replicate even a fraction of Kane’s influence in the starting XI.
Some hint as to what Pochettino will do in the coming weeks was provided in the match against Millwall. After Kane was removed in the 10th minute, the Spurs manager elected to push Son forward and bring on Christian Eriksen. Janssen remained on the bench until late in the second half.
Son would go on to score a hat-trick, and Janssen would score his first goal from open play. That the opposition were League One’s Millwall should factor in to whatever analysis of their respective abilities, but it seems clear Kane’s job is Son’s to lose at this point.
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As for Kane himself, he will suffer through some unwanted rest and, the club hopes, be available to push Tottenham through the final weeks of the season. With a FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea coming late in April and the Premier League season not ending till May 21st, Kane still has plenty of time to make his mark.