Fitness coach Raymond Verheijen has suggested that Mauricio Pochettino is training his Tottenham Hotspur players too hard after a number of his squad picked up injuries last weekend.

Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier went off with muscle injuries before Harry Kane suffered ankle ligament damage during the closing stages of the 1-0 win over Sunderland.

Verheijen - who has held coaching roles with both Wales and the Netherlands - also pointed to how teams coached by Pochettino have performed during the latter weeks of a campaign.

The 44-year-old told talkSPORT: "Several players in one game struggling with their hamstrings is strange, especially at the start of the season. I think this is just one of several symptoms that I have tried to point out over the last few years that has to do with the training methods of Pochettino.

"Pochettino is a great coach and a great tactician, so I'm not so much questioning him as a coach in general, but one of the aspects within his approach – the training.

"When he was at Espanyol his team was fading away in the last phase of the season, at Southampton the same thing happened and it has also happened for the last two years at Spurs. He's demanding so much from his players. He's pushing them hard."

Last season, Spurs earned just two points from their final four fixtures as they missed out on a top-two finish in the Premier League.