Mourinho resists "bluff" call on Kane’s fitness ahead of Tottenham vs Arsenal

Jose Mourinho says he expects Harry Kane to be fit for Sunday's north London derby as he resisted the opportunity to "bluff" about the Tottenham forward's availability.

Kane's fitness has been questioned after Mourinho offered a fairly unclear update ahead of Thursday's Europa League clash against LASK Linz in Austria.

The forward was never expected to play in that game, which ended as a 3-3 draw as Tottenham secured qualification for the knockout stages, but Mourinho says he should be fine for Sunday.

“I believe he is going to be fit,” said the Portuguese.

“I am not sure. He is on treatment but I could be now doing some bluff or trying to pretend he is in big trouble. He is not in big trouble. I believe he is going to play.”

Mourinho was less than impressed by the performances of some of his Spurs players in the game in Austria, in which Spurs led 2-1 with six minutes to go and then 3-2 in stoppage time.

“I have a feeling from my experience that some of the players feel that they shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“I think it's a question of attitude, which I've experienced before.

"Even at Manchester United I had a similar situation when we lost two matches away in the group phase and when we get to the knockouts you get better opponents and more difficulties, the team faces matches in a different way.

“The fact is that the Europa League group phase doesn’t motivate some of the players. I knew it.

"Some players are fundamental for us and I always need them on the pitch in any circumstance. I need a couple of these players to give a little bit of balance to the team, as an example Hojbjerg and Son – without them I don’t think we would have a positive result.”

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