Jose Mourinho has revealed that Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur’s superstar striker, is an injury doubt for Sunday’s north London derby clash with Arsenal (Watch live, 11:30 am ET on Peacock Premium).
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According to Mourinho, Kane, the north London derby’s top goal-scorer during the Premier League era (10 goals) at the age of 27, is carrying an undisclosed injury that leaves him short of absolutely certain to feature when Tottenham and Arsenal do battle for the 188th time (all competitions) — quotes from Sky Sports:
It doesn’t sound like the nature of Kane’s injury is terribly serious, as Kane’s status would have never been in question if not for Mourinho’s (very, very) thinly veiled mind games.
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No doubt, Harry Kane is nursing some sort of injury this week — virtually every Premier League player is after nearly three weeks — but it sounds as though Mourinho is simply laying the groundwork for a full-squad rotation when Tottenham take on Austrian side LASK in the Europa League, from which Spurs are yet to officially qualify for the knockout rounds.
Kane and Son Heung-min were each unused substitutes in last week’s 4-0 victory over Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad, thanks in large part to Kane’s backup, Carlos Vinicius, scoring his first (and second) goals for the club.
As for another injured (and perhaps even more important and irreplaceable) figure in the Tottenham team, Toby Aldeweireld is in contention to return from the groin injury he picked up against Manchester City two weeks ago.