Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 8y

Michel Vorm can deputise for Hugo Lloris - Tottenham boss Pochettino

LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino says he "trusts" Michel Vorm to deputise for injured captain Hugo Lloris but the manager hopes the France goalkeeper will be fit for Tottenham Hotspur's Champions League opener.

Lloris suffered a hamstring injury in Spurs' 1-1 draw at Everton in Saturday's Premier League curtain-raiser and he was replaced by understudy Vorm after 25 minutes.

Further tests this week revealed that Lloris will be absent for around a month, ruling him out of Saturday's Premier League match against Crystal Palace at White Hart Lane and further league games against Liverpool and Stoke City.

He will also miss an international friendly against Italy on Sept. 1 and his country's opening World Cup qualifier in Belarus five days later, and the goalkeeper faces a race to be fit for Tottenham's Champions League opener, which will be played on Sept. 13 or 14.

"I'm confident. It's not a big issue -- it's a minor injury," Pochettino told a news conference. "We'll see what happens but we hope he'll be available for the Champions League game.

"It's always difficult when your captain is not on the pitch. We trust in Michel -- he did well during preseason. From day one, he was our first option as keeper. He played a lot of friendlies. He's ready to compete. He has a lot of experience in Premier League and internationals. There's no doubt about his quality."

Lloris played just 45 minutes of preseason -- the second half of Spurs' final friendly against Inter Milan in Oslo -- and was left out of the club's trip to Melbourne, in common with 10 of Spurs' 11 Euro 2016 representatives.

Pochettino, however, insisted Lloris' injury had nothing to do with his lack of minutes following the European Championship, and said it the result of rushing off his line to close down an opponent.

"If you remember, [his injury] was an action that's not normal for the keeper -- to leave his position and run a lot," he said. "It was an accident, it happens. It's unrelated to the Euros. The good thing is that it's a minor injury -- he'll be back with the team very soon."

For the Palace game, Pochettino will also be without the suspended Mousa Dembele, who is serving the fourth match of a six-game ban, but Son Heung-Min is available after South Korea's elimination from the Olympics.

The Argentine said Son is "sad" following South Korea's defeat to Honduras in the quarterfinals, which ended their medal hopes and, consequently, the chance of the players to avoid mandatory two-year national service.

"I couldn't stop crying because I was so sorry for letting my teammates down," Son is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail. "I couldn't even look at their faces."

Pochettino also said Vincent Janssen could make his full debut against the Eagles alongside Harry Kane, adding: "That is one possibility. He can link well with Harry Kane. It's an option to play with two strikers for some games. He had a very good impact versus Everton.

"A new player always has 200 percent motivation. It's important to keep that, to keep his hunger he showed against Everton. He's adapting to our style, our philosophy, to a different league."

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