Tottenham will be without three players for Saturday’s meeting with Manchester City – Harry Kane (ankle), Serge Aurier (hamstring), Harry Winks (groin). Eric Lamela and Moussa Sissoko are doubtful, however, with the pair to be given a late assessment before a final decision is made. Eric Dier is touch and go, however, as he hadn’t joined the team in training up until Thursday.
Mauricio Pochettino has refused to rule Kane out for the season, recently telling Football.London: “Still we cannot say nothing. We’ll assess day by day, we’ll see. We’re not optimistic but you know Harry Kane and with Harry Kane all is possible. We’re not going to say he won’t play again or not, we will assess day by day.” Aurier and Winks are still continuing their recoveries and will miss out over the weekend.
Lamela and Sissoko have a chance of returning, however, with late fitness tests planned for both on Friday. Pochettino won’t want to go into an important game without Sissoko, Dier or Winks in his midfield, so he’ll be desperate to have at least one of them back to partner Victor Wanyama. Dier will be short on match fitness as his last outing for Spurs was against Southampton on March 9, but Pochettino is running out of option.
He said about Sissoko on Thursday: “Sissoko – we need to assess him (on Friday). We’re not optimistic but (Friday) we will have a better idea.” Pochettino’s update doesn’t make for good news… Tottenham can’t afford anything less than a win over the weekend. Chelsea could bump them out of the top-four if they better Spurs’ result.