Jose Mourinho urges forwards to prove Tottenham are not a one-man team

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has called on his attacking players to step up in the absence of Harry Kane.

The England captain is sidelined with an ankle injury and is likely to miss a third game in succession when West Brom visit on Sunday afternoon.

Things have not gone well for Tottenham in their star man’s absence, losing their last three Premier League games – a run they had not suffered since November 2012.

Spurs only have a wonder strike from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to show for their attacking endeavour in Kane’s absence and Mourinho wants his other players to prove that Tottenham are not a one-man team.

“It’s always the old story,” Mourinho said. “A team is not a player. A team cannot depend on a player. Other players they have to step up.

“That’s the reality of things. But there are players that are special players in different teams.

“Even the biggest teams in the world, when Player X is not there, they miss him. We can have many examples of what these players mean for certain clubs, and for certain teams.

“And for sure Harry is very important for us. He leads. He creates. He has dynamics of closed eyes with Sonny for example. But of course, other guys they have to step up to be honest.

“(Carlos) Vinicius tried his best against Chelsea, he couldn’t score his goal. I’m happy with him, period, I don’t want to say much more. I’m happy with his effort.

“The other guys, apart from Sonny, we know they are not goalscorers, they are not the kind of players that, as attacking players, they can score eight, 10, 12 goals in a season, you know that these are not their characteristics.

“So we have to fight with what we have and against West Bromwich with Harry Kane, without Harry Kane, we have to go, we have to win that match.”