Tomorrow sees Tottenham Hotspur travel to Middlesbrough for a FA Cup third round clash that is certainly injury riddled on both sides. Tottenham talisman Harry Kane limped off his side’s New Year’s Day loss to Southampton with a hamstring injury that manager Jose Mourinho believes to be pretty bad.
Mourinho has negative premonitions right now about what the scans and medical assessments will say about his superlative striker. He’s confirmed as out for the weekend, as is midfielder Tanguy Ndombele, who left the same match earlier due to a hip problem.
That’s the bad news, which we got out of the way first. On to the good news, Eric Dier has returned to training, having recovered from illness while Heung-Min Son has now finished serving his suspension. Kyle Walker-Peters is also back training again, having overcome the calf issue that was plaguing him.
Left backs Danny Rose (calf) and Ben Davies (ankle), along with team captain Hugo Lloris (elbow) remain long term injury absentees. In turning to the hosts, who currently sit 16th in the Championship, Ryan Shotton, George Friend, Britt Assombalonga and Darren Randolph are all sidelined for this one. Meanwhile Daniel Ayala ?was subbed off in their win over Preston due to an injury, so he’s a doubt as well.
Tottenham Hotspur at Middlesbrough FA Cup 3rd Round FYIs
Kickoff: Sat Jan 4, 2:01pm, Riverside Stadium
THFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
TV: BT Sport 1
Referee: Stuart Atwell
Prediction: Tottenham 4, Middlesbrough 2
You know Mourinho, he takes the FA Cup quite seriously.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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