Harry Kane faces a race to be fit for Tottenham s clash with Manchester City in the EFL Cup final after missing training on Tuesday.
The striker looks certain not to be involved in Wednesday s Premier League home match against Southampton after suffering an ankle injury in last Friday s 2-2 draw with Everton.
Caretaker head coach Ryan Mason, who took over from the sacked Jose Mourinho on Monday, could offer no guarantee the England captain would be ready for Sunday s Wembley trip.
Mason said in a news conference: I m not sure currently. He didn t train today. It s one of those cases of taking it day by day. We re still not sure about the weekend just yet.
What we do now is Harry s working extremely hard to get over this injury.
Kane has scored 31 goals and had 16 assists across all competitions this season, making him the only player from Europe s top five leagues to score 30 or more times and add at least 15 assists.
Handed the job until the end of the season, rookie coach Mason is a former Tottenham player who had to retire three years ago due to a head injury sustained while at Hull City.
The 29-year-old said he was very proud to be chosen to lead the team, and rallied the players by declaring: I want us to be brave and aggressive and play like Tottenham Hotspur.
: There s a lot of pride in being given this opportunity to help this great football club.”
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial)
Chairman Daniel Levy proposed Mason should succeed Mourinho as interim boss after dismissing the former Chelsea and Manchester United manager.
We had a very long conversation, Mason said. I took training, we had another conversation and he asked me if I wanted it.
Former Charlton Athletic and England defender Chris Powell and ex-Watford man Nigel Gibbs will be assistants to Mason.
Mason said he and former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino had exchanged a few messages since the dramatic upheaval. He also said he had not spoken to Mourinho.
Mason was in the line-up the last time Saints won at Spurs in the Premier League, a 2-1 victory in May 2016, but Tottenham have typically had Southampton s number in north London, winning eight of their past nine at home in this fixture.
Tottenham s impressive record in home Premier League games on Wednesday is another positive omen as Mason seeks a winning start. Since a 1-0 loss to Leicester City in January 2016, they have won 10 of their 11 such matches (D1), scoring 25 goals and conceding just four.
Son Heung-min scored four goals in Tottenham’s 5-2 win against Southampton in the reverse fixture earlier this season, with all four assisted by Kane. That remains the only occasion in Premier League history when a player has scored four goals in a match with each of them assisted by the same player.
Mason will have plenty to think about as he prepares to boss a team in a Premier League game for the first time, a situation he had not seen coming and described as crazy .
The man who joined Tottenham s academy as an eight-year-old, going on to reach first-team level and England selection, is determined to take the change of circumstances in his stride.
It s football, he said. Anything can happen. You just have to be ready for what football can throw at you at times.
