International Week Round Up

Giovani Lo Celso

One of the big frustrations of international week came to bite Tottenham on Tuesday with news that Giovani Lo Celso faces some six weeks on the sidelines. The Argentine midfielder picked up a hip injury in his country’s 0-0 draw with Chile and is now expected to be out until October.

With Ryan Sessegnon arriving injured, Tanguy Ndombele picking up a knock after two games and Jack Clarke immediately loaned back to Leeds United, it hasn’t been the most positive start for our new signings so the Lo Celso news is even more unwelcome.

Set to Start?

Although the former Real Betis man had made just three appearances from the subs’ bench, a strong and promising cameo against Arsenal suggested that Giovani Lo Celso might just start against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Instead, he’s in the treatment room so we’ll have to wait until October at least until we see what he can really contribute to the club.

Goal Machine

Harry Kane

Elsewhere, England captain Harry Kane scored his 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th goals for his country in two Euro 2020 qualifiers. Two of those strikes came from the penalty spot which predictably led to some nonsense on social media but ignoring that, it means that Kane has now notched those 26 goals in 41 internationals.

Kane was our only representative in the starting XI for England’s game with Kosovo on Tuesday so things have moved on from Russia 2018 where up to five Spurs players were involved. On Saturday, Dele Alli was watching his former side MK Dons in action and he seems the most likely to join Kane when the international break returns next month.

Also proving to be deadly from 12 yards was Christian Eriksen who put away two spot kicks in Denmark’s 6-0 demolition of Gibraltar. It was a productive few days for Kane and Eriksen but they weren’t the only two Tottenham players to find the target.

Unlikely Source

When Toby Alderweireld joined up at White Hart Lane, the centre half was a continual threat from set pieces. In recent months, that hasn’t quite been the case and some would say it’s because he isn’t getting any decent balls into the box.

Against a weak Scotland side, Toby found the net in Belgium’s 4-0 win as he nodded in Kevin De Bruyne’s corner. In fact, it’s been 101 games for club and country since Alderweireld last scored in our demolition of Hull City on the final day of 2016/17.

It’s a slow week of course and one that has now been dominated by the bad news concerning Giovani Lo Celso. In the quest for finding positives, we’ve touched on some Spurs players that have discovered some scoring form and hopefully that will continue as we take on Crystal Palace this Saturday.

International week is rarely a welcome factor, particularly at the start of the new season but perhaps it came at a good time. Now it’s back to the serious stuff and we’ll return on Thursday with our preview of that game against Roy Hodgson’s Palace.