Injury blow for Tottenham as star man Harry Kane out of Man United clash

Kane, 24, will miss Tottenham Hotspur's huge Premier League clash at Manchester United on Saturday (Watch live, 7:30 a.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com ) with a hamstring injury.

Tottenham confirmed that Kane “underwent assessment and investigation earlier this week, which confirmed a minor strain to the left hamstring.”

In other words, Kane is out of the massive clash at Old Trafford between two title contenders.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino spoke to the media on Friday about Kane's injury and added that it is a minor problem and he hopes Kane will be fit to face Real Madrid next Wednesday.

“The doctor and medical staff made the decision to not take the risk. There is no sense in taking that risk and making the problem bigger,” Pochettino said.

Kane suffered the injury towards the end of Spurs' 4-1 win against Liverpool at Wembley last weekend as he was subbed out in the second half with his manager Pochettino brushing off any injury concerns, but in midweek Kane did not feature in Spurs' 18-man squad for their League Cup defeat to West Ham.

The Spurs star is the form striker in world soccer right now, scoring eight goals in the Premier League this season and 13 in 12 games in all competitions for Spurs this season. Kane also has four goals in four games for England this season, taking his tally to 17 in 16 games for club and country in 2017-18.

His absence will be a huge boost for Jose Mourinho and his banged up United defense who will now likely have to deal with veteran forward Fernando Llorente instead. United won't underestimate Spurs at all, but Kane is integral to how they play and his link-up with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen is crucial to Spurs' attack.

Mauricio Pochettino is most likely to start with Llorente but he could bring in Heung-Min Son to start up top after he stepped up admirably in a central role during Kane's absence through injury last season.

We all know Spurs aren't a “one man team” as Pep Guardiola suggested, but there's no doubt that losing Kane is a massive blow ahead of this huge game.