3 days to Premier League season: Tottenham have to take some load off Harry Kane

The National’s sports team is counting down the days until defending champions Leicester City take on newly promoted Hull City in the opening fixture of the 2016/17 Premier League season by looking at one team a day. Today, Tottenham.

• More: Richard Jolly's predictions | Fixtures in UAE time

The National's sports team is counting down the days until defending champions Leicester City take on newly promoted Hull City in the opening fixture of the 2016/17 English Premier League season by looking at one team a day. Today, Tottenham Hotspur.

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Scoring 49 goals in 83 Premier League appearances is an impressive return for any striker, but in particular one who improved on his breakout season, in 2014/15, with 25 league goals last term. The problem for Harry Kane – and by extension England at Euro 2016 – is that Kane has carried the goalscoring burden on his young shoulders for two solid seasons.

With the way Tottenham set up with a lone striker, Kane has had to be not just the man that supplies the goals, but the one who has to be fit to play almost every game. Throw in the European Under 21 Championship last summer on top of England’s miserable campaign in France this summer, and for almost two solid seasons Kane, 22, has played non-stop football. Pochettino has addressed the striker’s workload with the addition of Vincent Janssen from AZ Alkmaar for £17 million, recognising that, despite, Kane’s prowess, he can’t be expected to be the spearhead that will also include Champions League football this season, on his own.

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Previously

• Hull City: Promoted club had unstable summer

• Middlesbrough: Hopes lie largely in Spaniards

• Burnley: Third time the charm?

• Sunderland: Moyes the make-or-break factor in survival hopes

• Bournemouth: Well placed to avoid 'second season syndrome'

• Crystal Palace: Time to deliver on all that talent

• West Bromwich Albion: Another season of mid-table mediocrity

• Watford: Early fixtures will set the tone – for better or worse

• Swansea City: Swans need a striker, and stability

• Everton: In good hands with Koeman

• Chelsea: Hazard key to turnaround year

• Stoke City: Defensive stability is essential

• Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp era begins in earnest

• West Ham United: New home, with new expectations

• Southampton: Puel in for baptism by fire

• Manchester United: Reloaded, ready to challenge for title

• Manchester City: Champions League title still the goal

Still to come

• Tomorrow: Arsenal

• Friday: Leicester City

• Saturday: Premier League season begins

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