Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham have received positive news about star striker Harry Kane and hopes he returns from injury within the next three weeks.
Kane was stretched off in Spurs’ 1-0 win over Sunderland on Sept. 18, but Pochettino would not say for how long he would be out after an initial scan revealed ankle ligament damage.
Initial reports claimed Kane would miss six to eight weeks but, speaking in Moscow ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League match against CSKA, the Spurs manager said: “Half an hour ago, we received the information about the [second] scan.
“It’s much, much better than we expected. We are happy, the scan was very positive. We’re very, very happy about this news. But still we cannot give a time of how long it’ll be to recovery.
“Be sure we’re happy because the scan was better than we expected but I am not a doctor — it’s hard to say one, two, three weeks but it’s much, much, much better than we expected.”
Kane is one of five senior players who have not travelled to Moscow, including Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Danny Rose, who have hamstring strains. Moussa Sissoko misses out with suspected concussion.
“Eric Dier and Dembele are recovering from minor problems [suffered] against Sunderland, and Sissoko got concussion during game at Middlesbrough,” Pochettino said.
“They’re OK but we don’t want to take a risk. We’ve a lot of game ahead, and it’s difficult period with them and for the national teams. We’re not taking a risk with them. They’re training well.
“Dier and Danny Rose are the same level, Mousa a bit further, but why take a risk when we played at Middlesbrough, and we have another game tomorrow?”
Tottenham’s youth squad is also in Moscow for a UEFA Youth League match against CSKA, and Pochettino could therefore include the likes of Marcus Edwards and Anton Walkes — both of whom made their debuts last week on the bench.
And the Spurs manager insisted that a lack of experience in his young squad was not the reason for Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Monaco in the opening group game.
“I don’t believe there’s a lack of experience or we lost the first game because of that,” he said. “For different reasons, we didn’t perform the way we wanted and lost. We conceded two very easy goals and in the end they created two chances and scored. We deserved more but we lost.
“We are young but it’s about competing and tomorrow is a good opportunity to compete differently to how we did against Monaco at Wembley. But I don’t believe a lack of experience was the reason we lost the first game.”
