Spurs in anxious wait for Kane's injury update

Leading scorer to undergo scan after hurting same ankle where he had ligament damage previously

Match Report

Mar 12, 2018 09:38 am

EPL
BOURNEMOUTH	TOTTENHAM
1	4
(Junior Stanislas 7)	(Dele Alli 35, Son Heung Min 62, 87, Serge Aurier 90+1)

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted he can only wait and hope an ankle injury suffered by talismanic striker Harry Kane isn’t serious.

Kane limped off with his side trailing 1-0 at Bournemouth after just half an hour on Monday morning (Singapore time), but Pochettino’s men showed impressive resilience to bounce back to win 4-1 and move up to third in the English Premier League with Son Heung Min scoring twice.

“I am concerned. Until tomorrow or after tomorrow, he make the scan we cannot say nothing more,” said Pochettino.

“Of course, I worry about him, his ankle, we hope it’s not a massive issue for him and the team, and as soon as possible can recover again and be available.”

Kane was sidelined by injuries to the same ankle twice last season.

He missed 12 games for club and country after suffering ligament damage in Spurs’ EPL win at Sunderland in September 2016 and a further four weeks in March last year due to a similar ankle problem.

After an FA Cup trip to Swansea City this Saturday, Spurs aren’t in action again until they travel to Chelsea on April 1.

In between times England face Holland and Italy in friendlies with manager Gareth Southgate set to name his squad on Thursday.

However, even shorn of their 35-goal striker, Spurs bounced back from a bitterly disappointing Champions League exit to Juventus in midweek.

It appeared as though the visitors had yet to shake off the effects of falling short against the Italian champions in a slow start.

Junior Stanislas had already seen one effort come back off the crossbar before he put the hosts in front on seven minutes.

Tottenham failed to take note of that warning as Stanislas had made amends for his previous miss with a well-taken strike past Hugo Lloris from an Adam Smith cross.

COLLISION

Worse was to come for Spurs in the 29th minute when Kane drifted offside before meeting Christian Eriksen’s right-wing cross.

The striker slotted the ball past Asmir Begovic but collided with the goalkeeper and stayed down before hobbling back to the dressing room.

The loss of their leading scorer was clearly the last thing Spurs needed but their response was resounding with Kane’s replacement Erik Lamela contributing to Dele Alli’s equaliser just a minute after coming on.

Lamela produced a neat turn before laying the ball off to Son who sent Serge Aurier clear down the right and his excellent low cross was turned home by Alli from six metres for his 10th goal of the season.

Bournemouth held firm until the break, but there was little doubt the momentum was with Pochettino’s side in the second half.

They went in front just after the hour mark when Son benefited from a borderline offside call to claim his 17th goal of the season.

On this occasion, Alli was the creator, clipping a precise cross for Son to volley past Begovic at the far post.

Son netted his second as he was allowed to run the full length of the Bournemouth half unchallenged before rounding Begovic and slotting home.

And Aurier pounced when Begovic could only parry Kieran Trippier’s cross in stoppage time to round off a fine fightback by the visitors. – AFP