Harry Kane is poised to return to the training pitch on Monday after being sidelined for a month and Tottenham Hotspur are cautiously optimistic that there will be more encouraging injury news about Toby Alderweireld, who is due to undergo a scan after he was taken off on a stretcher on Saturday.
Although Alderweireld was in a lot of pain at the time of the injury, the Belgian was able to walk out of The Hawthorns after the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion. Mauricio Pochettino has ruled Alderweireld out of the Champions League away game against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday, but Spurs are hopeful that the damage to the central defender’s knee is not too severe and that he could be looking at weeks, rather than months, in the treatment room.
Kane’s rehabilitation continues to progress. He has not played since injuring ankle ligaments against Sunderland on 18 September, but this week should represent another step forward for the striker. “Hopefully as soon as possible we can recover him, and the team will get stronger,” Pochettino said. “The Champions League game on Tuesday is too soon for him but maybe Monday he will start to train on the pitch.”
Danny Rose will be restored to the starting lineup in Leverkusen after being rested against West Brom. “After his injury he played against Manchester City and then it wasn’t in the plan to play two games with the national team,” Pochettino said. “But because [Ryan] Bertrand was injured, he had to play two games.
“We don’t want to take risks. I think this is too much for a player coming from the injury to play two games in one week. For that [reason] we gave him a rest to be ready for the next two games.”
With Alderweireld out, the manager is likely to ask Eric Dier to partner Jan Vertonghen at centre-back. “The good thing about Eric is he can play like a midfielder and a centre-back, and can perform good in several positions,” Pochettino said. “That is important and we will see about the decision for Tuesday. It is one option more that we have.”
