Sat 06 February 2021, 11:02
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho describes Sunday’s clash against West Brom as a ‘big game’.
We take on Sam Allardyce’s team in the early 12 noon slot determined to get back on track after a tough week of three defeats in the Premier League.
It’s a big week, and a big month with our FA Cup fifth round tie at Everton on Wednesday (8pm), City away on Saturday (5.15pm) and the return of the Europa League with our Round of 32 over two legs against Wolfsberger of Austria on 18/24 February.
"The most important thing now is West Bromwich," said Jose. "I don’t even want to think about Everton or about City. After City, we go to Austria, again on Europa League, which is a big competition for us, we have good expectations in that competition, but I don’t even want to think about that.
"I want to think about West Bromwich. That’s a big game. Sometimes big games are just against the top six, or the London derbies or whatever. Other times, big games can be games can be like this. It’s also a big game for West Bromwich, because they need a victory, they need points, they need to survive, they need to get out of where they are.
"It’s a big game for us, because we need to leave the position where we are, which is not a dramatic position like theirs, but is a very bad position for us, we have to leave it, we need to win, we need to break the dynamic of three defeats.
"Europa League is something that, since the beginning, we put a lot on. I cannot forget that we had to play how many games to qualify for the group phase, and games with two days in between, travelling around Europe to do it.
"So, we want, the team wants, the team is waiting for that, and maybe the squad needs that, but let’s focus on West Bromwich because it’s the next match and, after three defeats, we have to win against West Bromwich, we cannot even think a different thing."
On the team news front, Jose wasn’t expecting missing players to return in time for Sunday - that means Harry Kane, Sergio Reguilon, Giovani Lo Celso and Dele all still out.
Jose added: “I think from all the guys injured, Reguilon, Dele Alli, Lo Celso, Harry Kane... I think the first one to be back will be Harry.”
Jose said ahead of Chelsea that he’s hopeful Harry will return from injury for either the Everton or City games next week.
