Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele knocks add to Tottenham frustration after Sunderland draw

Tottenham Hotspur face a nervous wait to learn the extent of Danny Rose's latest injury after the left-back was forced off during the goalless draw with Sunderland. The 26-year-old returned to Mauricio Pochettino's starting eleven on Tuesday evening (31 January) having missed the FA Cup fourth round win over Wycombe Wanderers with a knee injury.

After a bright start to the half, Rose was forced off in the 38<sup>th minute following a challenge with Black Cats defender Billy Jones, coming off the worse of the two.

The Spurs defender appeared to jar his knee as he hit the ground before immediately signalling to the Tottenham bench that he needed to come off. He was replaced by Ben Davies, with Spurs missing their regular left-back's presence in the second-half against a resolute Sunderland defence.

Prior to that incident, Mousa Dembele was also left worse for wear following a ferocious challenge from Jack Rodwell. The Black Cats defender escaped with just a yellow card and while Dembele was able to continue until the 85<sup>th minute when he was replaced by Vincent Janssen, Pochettino confirmed post-match he had picked up a knock as a result of the challenge.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Pochettino said of the incident with Rodwell: "This is football, these things happen. It is true that we hope Dembele is not a big issue because he got a big knock, but yes, that is football."

On Rose, Pochettino did not confirm whether the latest injury was a recurrance of the one suffered against Manchester City. "Yes, it is too early [to know the extent of his injury] because he twist his knee on a tackle that he got," he added. "We need to assess tomorrow how he is but we hope it is not a big issue."

A point on Wearside was enough to lift Tottenham to second in the Premier League table – level on points with arch-rivals Arsenal but with a superior goal difference. Pochettino was disappointed with the result, however and lamented his side's lack of aggression.

"We are disappointed because I think we missed two points," Pochettino told BBC Sport. "In the first half it was difficult for us to create chances, which was strange, but in the second half we played better and we had the chances to win the game. It was not a good night for us but it is a good thing for us to learn that we need to play from the beginning of the game with the same aggression and attitude we showed in the second half."