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AFP

LONDON-- A fixture list growing in intensity as they fight over numerous competitions. A pivotal north London derby on the horizon. The first whispers of spring on the air. This is usually the time of the year where Tottenham ought to be desperately worrying about Harry Kane and his latest brush with injury.

In three of the past four seasons he has found himself battling some form of injury in late February and March, his ankles at times seeming to buckle with the strain of carrying so much of Tottenham's hopes on his shoulders. So it was grimly appropriate that after he scored the decisive goals in Spurs' 2-0 home win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League round of 16 he should end the match with an ice pack wrapped around his knee.

Jose Mourinho insisted afterward that any injury was not cause for undue concern ahead of Sunday's trip to Arsenal, saying: "I hope [he will be available] and I believe so. It's a big match. Only a big problem would stop him being there which I don't think it is."

Kane's injury knock was all the more frustrating as Kane seemed to be shrewdly withdrawing himself from much of the hussle and bustle around the penalty area. He had Heung-min Son for that. If not him then Dele Alli or Erik Lamela, whose shot he pounced on when the ball crashed back off the post for his his 25th goal of the season. That is one more from 37 games than he registered in 34 last term. Of course as has been widely noted the crucial difference between this year and last is the assists, the 16 he has laid on for teammates more than double his previous seasonal best.

This looked like more of a throw back to the Kane of old, the penalty box finisher who always seemed to find himself in the right spots to poke home rebounds and pounce on defensive errors. Yet it was precisely because of the new grooves he has added to his game that he was able to so challenge the Croatian champions, who on another day might be departing London well-placed in this round of 16 tie.

Instead Kane's ability to combine subtle variations of position with a poacher's instinct proved beyond them, much as it may prove to be for Arsenal on Sunday, a side he always seems to raise his game for no matter his fitness. A forward who can usually manage to rustle up a goal when he seems to be playing on one leg surely will not allow the knock he took to his knee, which was wrapped up with ice as he sat on the substitutes' bench, to stop him from inflicting more misery on the red half of London come this weekend.

Dinamo Zagreb were certainly no pushovers for Spurs, their opponents may not have been the most formidable but they had reached tonight's game without a single defeat in the competition and had quality in abundance to test and repel Spurs. Twice in the first minute Davinson Sanchez was served warning of what would happen if he allowed Miroslav Orsic to get in behind the defense, on the second of those occasions anything more powerful than the tame effort he struck at Hugo Lloris might have changed the complexion of the tie.

In midfield Lovro Majer, who, from the languid way he stroked his feet across the turf to the headband that held back his honey blonde locks, screamed Luka Modric's younger brother, looked no less at home in north London than the Croatian playmakers that came before him in these parts. His ability to quickly and accurately spread play out wide was supplemented by a more cynical streak, he was not afraid to commit to a tackle and was lucky to avoid a penalty when he felled Tanguy Ndombele early in the first half.

This team did not lack for composure and technical ability from front to back, goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic sufficiently sure in his footing to volley a bouncing cross straight into the stands, a rueful glance afterwards suggesting he had been trying to pick out a team-mate off Serge Aurier's cross.

They had an answer for most of what Spurs threw at them, Son finding himself doubled up on whenever he got the ball in the final third and the rest of the midfield dropping back to create two tight banks of four that would not be easily breached.

Where some of his teammates seemed to be smashing their head against the Croats' wall Kane opted for a more elegant approach. The goal that would end with him pummeling in the rebound from Lamela's shot began with the England captain quarterbacking his attacking midfielders from inside his own half, pinging one of those balls over the top for Son that are such a reliable source of goals.

Once Rasmus Lauritsen cut out that initial pass one might have assumed Kane would have been haring up the pitch to join Alli, Ben Davies and Lamela. Instead he made more sedate progress toward goal, allowing his opponents to be drawn towards the ball as he drifted out to the left corner of the box, waiting to pounce.

Not for nothing did Dinamo manager Zoran Mamic describe Kane as a "master of football", an assessment echoed by Mourinho. "He understands the game very well. He can feel the spaces, he can look around and understand where other people are and how he can affect the game."

His second goal was less impressive, a Dinamo defense worn down over 70 minutes making an uncharacteristic error when Kevin Theophile-Catherine miscued his clearance straight at Kane. He was not going to allow such clumsy defending to go unpunished. That one error may prove to have been enough to end the Croatian champions' impressive progress through this competition.

All too often these spring months feel like the time when Spurs are punished for the harsh reality that Kane is their only viable option at center forward. That hit he sustained on his knee might have prompted 60,000 sharp intakes of panicked breath in normal times because tonight was a reminder of how Tottenham's talismanic forward really can be whatever his team need him to be.