Pochettino cagy on Harry Kane injury

Tottenham Hotspur fans swallowed hard and got on with things after Harry Kane went out with an ankle injury in the first half of today’s win over Bournemouth. Spurs got goals from Son Heung-Min, Dele Alli, and Serge Aurier to cruise to a strangely comfortable 4-1 win at the Vitality Stadium, but Kane was photographed leaving on crutches, casting doubts on when he might be healthy enough to play for Spurs again.

Kane rolled the same ankle that he’s injured twice before while scoring an offside goal and colliding with Bournemouth keeper Asmir Begovic. Initially Harry considered trying to run it off, but after consulting with the Spurs physio eventually walked down the tunnel. He was replaced by Erik Lamela.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino played it safe in his post-match comments, saying that Kane was due for a scan of his ankle tomorrow once the swelling goes down, but that Harry was “positive” about the status about the injury.

“We need to wait until tomorrow. After tomorrow he will have a scan in his ankle. Of course he suffered an injury that is in the same ankle as he suffered before. But I hope and we hope it’s not a massive issue. We need to wait until tomorrow.

“He is positive. Harry has a great character and is always positive. He’s happy with the victory for the team, disappointed of course with his problem. But now if you are positive then you start the recovery from the injury now.”

It’s a bit scary, to be honest. This is the third time that Harry has injured this same ankle, and the last time he did so he was out six weeks. Losing Kane for any length of time would be bad, and it’s true that Spurs don’t play a league match again until traveling to Stamford Bridge on April 1, so if your’e going to have an injury, this is probably the time to have it.

However, if Kane is out for longer than three weeks then I start getting nervous. Son can play up top in his stead (and would probably be the natural replacement), and there’s always Fernando Llorente (stifles laughter). And while Kane hasn’t scored for a few weeks now, he does so much more for Spurs than just pound in goals. Losing him would be a major loss.