Pochettino explains how Spurs will cope with current injury crisis

Tottenham travel to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham on Sunday, aiming to put things right after the loss to Manchester United at Wembley last weekend.

To make matter worse, Spurs lost both Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko to injuries on the back of the game, adding to the club’s already considerable injury woes.

Going into the game against Fulham, Tottenham will also be without Heung-Min Son who is currently competing in the Asia Cup as well as Lucas Moura and Victor Wanyama. Far from using the injury concerns as an excuse, Pochettino insisted that the squad could use the opportunity to show their strength.

When asked it was a challenge to deal with so many injuries during the pre-match press conference, Pochettino told Football.London” “It’s true that it’s a challenge. We try to be positive, we try to make sure the squad see we’re not affected. That is so important.”

“The reality is that we are not affected. Of course we are affected when some players are injured, but the number one and number 25 we are affected in the same way. Not because now Harry Kane is affected we are crying from the morning until the afternoon. Of course it’s a good possibility to show that we are stronger, that with different circumstances we can cope and play well.”

“We can keep the same structure and level and that is a challenge that is not a nice challenge, because all the managers try to have the best players fit and all the squad fit, but that situation that is not under your control you need to be positive and give the tools to the team to perform.”

The Argentine who was adamant after the defeat against United that Tottenham’s second-half performance deserved much more, admitted that it was crucial that Spurs bounce back against Fulham.

He added: “Of course it’s so important to keep winning and bounce back again after the defeat to United. It’s so important to show ourselves that we can compete and we cannot be affected by different circumstances that happened in the team.”

“That’s important and of course we want all the players fit but these situations can happen and we need to be strong enough to show that sport is about collective effort and we have a very good opportunity to show that that is true.”

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