Report hints Spurs injury absentee in contention for first 2020-21 Premier League start on Saturday

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Tottenham Hotspur could have Japhet Tanganga back from injury for Saturday’s return to Premier League action, Football London has suggested.

The 21-year-old defender has only made one appearance this season – the League Cup victory over Chelsea in September – due to a thigh injury.

Ahead of Tottenham’s Europa League meeting with Antwerp, Mourinho provided a positive update on Tanganga.

“Tanganga is the only player we really say has an injury or is in treatment from quite an important injury,” Mourinho told Football London.

“Very unlucky kid, he had a problem from before lockdown, then hard work to get back, played Chelsea in the cup and then this injury.

“But he’s coming. Great professional, great sense of responsibility and he’s working well to come back.”

With Matt Doherty unavailable for the Manchester City game, Serge Aurier is likely to be the front-runner to start at right-back.

However, Football London named Tanganga as another option Mourinho could have available to him at the back.

Although the report stated that it’ll depend on whether he’s officially passed match fit, it does seem to hint that he could be back by Saturday.

“The Ivorian may be the leading contender to replace Doherty in the XI but don’t rule out Mourinho springing a surprise once again,” added the outlet.

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Tanganga was very much one of Tottenham’s success stories during a difficult 2019-20 campaign, making his first-team breakthrough and looking like a future regular.

However, injuries have sadly hampered his progress this term, and he’s yet to feature in the Premier League this season.

That said, Mourinho clearly rates him highly and hopefully it won’t be long before he’s back on the pitch and contributing to his side’s good start to the season.