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Oh club football, how I’ve missed you! Team news is out ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s trip to the Hawthorns to face Tony Pulis and West Bromwich Albion, and the club has given updates on both Harry Kane and Mousa Dembele.
Dan Kirkpatrick, ESPN’s Spurs beat reporter, tweeted that Kane is close to a return to training, but it might be a while before we see Mousa Dembele on the pitch again.
#thfc Team news: Kane to resume light training at the end of this week. Dembele has a foot injury - will be assessed tomorrow but unlikely.
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) October 13, 2016
Pochettino said Dembele recovered from hamstring problem at Sunderland but says he has a recurrence of old foot injury which is 'painful'.
— Dan Kilpatrick (@Dan_KP) October 13, 2016
The Kane news is, of course, fantastic. After his ankle injury against Sunderland, it was thought he might not return until after the North London Derby in November. The fact that he’s likely going to resume light training by the end of the week suggests that the injury wasn’t as bad as first feared, and confirms Mauricio Pochettino’s optimistic quotes from last week. There’s no timetable for Kane’s return, and that’s fine: the team is firing on all cylinders at the moment, so there’s no need to rush him back to action.
This also clarifies the confusion surrounding Mousa Dembele’s situation as well, though the news isn’t as good. When Dembele missed the City match and international duty with Belgium the past two weeks with what was called a “foot problem,” it caused a lot of us to scratch our heads in confusion.
This confirms what we suspected: that he’s fully recovered from the hammy tweak he sustained against Sunderland, and that his foot is a different issue altogether. It sucks for Moose and it sucks for us since he was playing quite well before his injury, but with Spurs rolling with a highly effective midfield trio of Victor Wanyama, Christian Eriksen, and Dele Alli lately, his absence has been and likely will continue to be mitigated.
West Brom, for what it’s worth, appears to be fully healthy. It’s also the first time that Nacer Chadli, who has been playing very well for the Baggies, will go up against his old club. Spurs haven’t had the best time lately against a Pulis-managed West Brom: Spurs drew both matches against the Baggies last season.