Tottenham: Dier has to play against Burnley, says Mourinho
Eric Dier is poised to face Burnley despite the controversy surrounding his altercation with a Tottenham supporter.
Tottenham boss José Mourinho feels Eric Dier "has to play" against Burnley on Saturday, insisting the incident which saw him run into the stands was "almost nothing".
Dier is under scrutiny from a Football Association investigation after he entered the crowd to confront a supporter following Tottenham's FA Cup fifth-round loss to Norwich City on Wednesday.
The England international climbed over rows of seats to approach a fan who was involved in an incident with his brother at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Spurs' penalty shoot-out defeat.
Mourinho says Dier is "of course" in the right frame of mind to face Burnley
Mourinho does not feel the incident has impacted his player's frame of mind ahead of the trip to Turf Moor.
"What happened was clear, almost nothing happened," Mourinho said to Sky Sports. "He is ready and I think he has to play."
Mourinho added at his pre-match news conference: "It was exactly my feeling and my reaction.
"I'm much older than Eric and have more years in football and I was born a footballer's son and grew up as a footballer's manager. If I saw something happening with my son I'd do the same. I wouldn't think two seconds about doing the same.
"As professionals, sometimes we have to go through difficult situations. And we have to try to cope with it, be a little bit lucky that it will not happen the same way as it happened with Eric.
"But I think everybody understands what happened. Everybody has an opinion. I'm happy that the football family understands what happened. Let's move on.
"About Eric being in the right frame of mind to play, of course. The only thing that matters is: first of all, that nothing really big happened. And secondly he played so, so well in the last two matches that of course he is going to play.
"He played two fantastic matches [at centre-back], showed me things that I couldn’t imagine. I know what he can do in this position."
Mourinho hopeful Lloris will return against Burnley
Hugo Lloris is back in training after a groin injury and Mourinho hopes he will be able to bring his captain back into the line-up.
He added: "Decision to be made after training. If you ask whether I am expecting him to play I say yes but I cannot confirm."