When is the best time for Tottenham Hotspur to rest Harry Kane over Christmas?

Follow us on Google Discover

Mauricio Pochettino has a tricky balancing act to master over Tottenham Hotspur’s Christmas period.

We are not even halfway through the season yet and Harry Kane has already played 26 games for club and country.

The Tottenham Hotspur hero is deemed undroppable by Mauricio Pochettino, partly due to the scoring record which has seen him bag 50 goals in as many matches throughout 2017, and partly due to a lack of striking depth.

Pochettino’s reliance on Kane and the same small group of attacking players has haunted the final months of Tottenham’s recent seasons, and he must rotate his squad over Christmas if they are to avoid fatigue this year.

Spurs face a run of five games in 16 days over the festive period, including Saturday’s trip to Burnley, who are one place and one point above Tottenham in the league, and a London derby with West Ham United on January 4.

Pochettino may be tempted to start Kane all the way through the league fixtures and then rest him for the FA Cup tie with AFC Wimbledon on January 7. Indeed, deputy Fernando Llorente is yet to start for Spurs in the top flight.

However, considering that Tottenham are well off Manchester City’s title pace, Pochettino should change his stance on domestic cup competitions and target some silverware by making the Wimbledon game more of a priority.

It would be better to start Kane and get the game won than calling on him from the bench if things go wrong.

Kane is also essential to Tottenham’s chances at Wembley, where they are still struggling to break teams down and need his deadly finishing to fire them to home points which they cannot afford to drop in the Champions League race.

That pencils the England striker in for the visits of West Ham, and Southampton on Boxing Day, and leaves the away trip to Swansea City on January 2 as the ideal opportunity to rest Kane, giving him a nine-day break between back-to-back starts. The managerless Swans are bottom of the table and have the worst home record in the division.

Llorente would love a runout at his old stomping ground, and that way Kane should return refreshed for a second half of the season in which Tottenham will be relying on him to repeat his 2017 form if they are to make the top four.