Harry Kane’s injury continues the World Cup hangover which has seen several players sidelined already this season.
For the third straight season, Tottenham will be without the England captain for several weeks due to an ankle injury after he limped off following Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United.
Of the 11 Premier League players with the most playing time at last summer’s World Cup according to fifa.com, Kane is the eighth to miss time with an injury this season.
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren, whose 650 minutes for Croatia were the most of any Premier League player in Russia, did not feature for his club until September 26 and has made only nine league appearances this season. Lovren recently went off injured five minutes into the FA Cup loss to Wolves.
Kane’s England team-mates Harry Maguire and Kieran Trippier have each missed more than a month – Maguire tied with Three Lions central defensive colleague John Stones for the second-most minutes at the World Cup, five minutes behind Lovren, with Trippier not far behind on 580 minutes.
Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen is another Spurs player to miss time this season, though fellow defender Toby Alderweireld has so far escaped the curse. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who played 540 minutes for France, missed the whole of September with a thigh problem.
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne was another victim of Belgium’s run to the semi-final – a knee injury suffered in August has led to two spells on the sidelines and the playmaker has yet to play the full 90 minutes in a league game this term, starting just once.
Olivier Giroud, a bigger part of France’s plans during their World Cup win than for Chelsea, suffered an ankle ligament injury in late December and also faces a prolonged absence. His club and country colleague N’Golo Kante has so far escaped injury.
