Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said Harry Kane is running on empty just over a week before he leads England into battle at the World Cup.

Conte blamed a lack of other available options for starting Kane in Spurs’ 2-0 League Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.

The England captain was replaced on the hour mark, but has now started all of Tottenham’s 21 games in all competitions this season.

Conte is currently without Son Heung-min due to a fractured eye socket, while Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski are making their way back from injury.

“He was really, really tired. Yesterday we had a soft training session, really soft and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy,” said Conte.

Click here for full story

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.