Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Sunderland on Sunday has come at a considerable cost as Harry Kane suffered an ankle injury that will see him sidelined for months and not weeks.
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But now Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino is anxiously awaiting the results of assessment of Kane’s right ankle after he was carried off on a stretcher toward the end of Sunday’s game in north London.
“We all felt guilty but the most important thing is the way you react, and yesterday was a very good signal for the manager, the club and the fans too”.
But Pochettino played down the severity of their problems.
Pochettino says “there are different rumors, we can not guess whether it’s eight weeks, 10, four, one”. “We hope it’s not a big issue for us”.
It remains to be seen whether Pochettino will risk starting Janssen in today’s League Cup tie against Gillingham, although the Dutchman has received backing from the captain, Hugo Lloris, to step into the breach.
In Kane’s absence, Dutch striker Vincent Janssen, who signed from AZ Alkmaar in July, is expected to deputise. “Vincent arrives in a good moment – he’s ready to compete”.
“When you’re in different competitions, Champions League is a different competition, we spent a lot of energy on Wednesday, it’s different to the Europa League”.
“It’s always hard when you don’t have an opportunity to play – strikers are always excited to play and sometimes feel the pressure”.
He added: “He needs to be calm and just play and be sure he has opportunities to score”. But it’s far from his best position and Tottenham will miss the hold-up play and presence in front of goal that they get from Kane and Janssen.
“Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier got cramps in their hamstrings”, the Argentine explained on Sky Sports.
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Should the second scan confirm as much the striker would miss the Champions League games against CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen and, among the seven Premier League fixtures within the timescale, key contests against Manchester City, Leicester City and Arsenal. “It’s unlucky for him because he would have been in the squad”, Pochettino said.
