Team news: Kane, Ndombele unavailable for FA Cup match vs. Boro

Tottenham Hotspur are still sweating a forthcoming scan on Harry Kane’s hamstring, which he injured in the second half of Spurs’ 1-0 loss to Southampton mid-week. However, the injury is obviously severe enough to keep him out of this weekend’s FA Cup match at Middlesbrough.

The club released its team news ahead of the match, and noted that five players remain unavailable for the trip to Boro — Kane and Tanguy Ndombele, who also was substituted out with an injury vs. Soton, as well as Hugo Lloris, Ben Davies, and Danny Rose.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that Son Heung-Min returns to the lineup after serving his three match suspension for violent conduct, while Eric Dier and Kyle Walker-Peters are also available to be selected.

Nothing too surprising here, but there are a couple of small noteworthy things buried in these tweets. First, I think this is the first time that I’ve seen Danny Rose actually listed in the injury report, unless I missed it in past weeks. I think most people assumed that he was being sidelined because Jose Mourinho didn’t like him (and that may be the case) but I guess he also had an injury, too. Second, I also had no idea Walker-Peters was injured either.

The Boro FA Cup match was always going to be one for which Mourinho would rotate his squad. Kane’s injury just means we no longer have to speculate on whether or not he’ll play. That could mean that Sonny starts in a more forward position in Kane’s absence, though Mourinho also suggested that it’s “possible” that 17-year old striker Troy Parrott could get another first team start. Dier could also return to the starting lineup.

You never take an away cup match for granted, and we’ll likely see a few new faces in the lineup this weekend anyway. This report just forces Mourinho’s hand a bit.