OPINION
It was a bittersweet night for Tottenham as they played their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Man City at their new stadium on Tuesday night.
The atmosphere in the new stadium was fantastic and Tottenham did their part on the pitch with a 1-0 win against their Premier League rivals.
Man City fans might not think that’s too bad but we’d prefer to be in Tottenham’s position now – it’s half-time in the tie, they’re a goal up and an away goal would make Man City’s task really, really hard.
Stats are with them too – they’ve progressed in the last nine matches where they’ve won the first leg of a European knockout tie.
However, the win was tempered with an injury to Harry Kane. He had to be helped down the tunnel in the second-half after a challenge from Fabian Delph. Delph caught Kane with his studs on the follow-through and Kane went straight off the pitch – that was an ominous sign for Tottenham fans.
And the comments from manager Mauricio Pochettino won’t have cheered them after the match. He said, “It looks like the same ankle and a similar injury. We’re very sad. We’re maybe going to miss him for the rest of the season.”
That news, if confirmed, will be a huge blow to Tottenham. But, we don’t think it will necessarily have a huge impact on the season.
Tottenham went on to win the game after Kane went off. And they won all four games when he was missing recently with ankle ligament damage. Ironically, they didn’t win in five when he returned to the side.
The responsibility will rest on Heung-min Son’s shoulders but he rose to the occasion last night and with a 1-0 lead and the pressure on Man City, we can see Spurs getting to the Champions League semi-finals. If Son scores at the Etihad then Man City will need to score three – something they’re more than capable of, but not a given against a team like Tottenham.
Can they win it? They’ve obviously got a chance but we don’t think they win it even if Kane was fit. If that’s off the table then the priority is top four in the Premier League and Tottenham definitely have the squad to do that with or without Kane.
However, one thing that this illustrates is that Tottenham simply must sign a second striker in the summer, one who’s capable of providing competition for Kane. He can’t play every game in a season and it’s a weakness in the squad that needs addressing.
"It looks like the same ankle and a similar injury."
"We're very sad. We're maybe going to miss him for the rest of the season." ?
Mauricio Pochettino speaks to @DesKellyBTS about the extent of Harry Kane's injury… pic.twitter.com/8Nee4ElMsO
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 9, 2019