Manuel Pellegrini warns West Ham players against underestimating Tottenham
Pelligrini insists fatigue will not be a factor for Tottenham in this Saturday's clash, despite the side's jaded look this season
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Your support makes all the difference.West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini does not expect to be facing a tired Tottenham side on Saturday.
Spurs skipper Harry Kane has looked jaded in the early part of the season after he and eight of his club-mates were involved in the World Cup semi-finals.
They head to the London Stadium on the back of another bout of international duty, but Pellegrini insists fatigue will not be a factor.
“I don’t think that a Spurs player will be tired, they played on Monday and then now on Saturday,” said Pellegrini.
“Maybe for the League Cup game (on 31 October), when they will have played on Monday and then again on Wednesday.
“But they are all young players, they will be 100 per cent for this game.”
Although Kane did not score for England in their win in Spain on Monday, he looked sharper than he has for a while and Pellegrini is an admirer of both the striker and his club manager, Mauricio Pochettino.
“I think they are strong because you look at the players they have in their squad,” added Pellegrini.
“Harry Kane is one of the best players in the league, in the world. They have three or four young players in the English national squad. They have other international players. They have a complete squad.
“Mauricio Pochettino has done a very good job at Tottenham. Every year he is improving them in the Premier League.
“The last two years they qualified for the Champions League which was not so easy for Tottenham before the arrival of Mauricio. They are a good team with a very good manager.”
Meanwhile, Pellegrini played down rumours of a potential move for Roma striker Edin Dzeko.
Reports in Italy claim Pellegrini could be reunited with Dzeko having previously managed him at Manchester City.
However, Pellegrini said: “You can talk about five, six or seven players that are linked with us. We must not talk about one player.
“I know him well but we are not thinking about that at the moment.”
PA
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