Pochettino ‘positive’ over Kane fitness

Spurs striker is ‘not too far away’ from making his return from ankle injury, his manager has claimed after goalless draw at Bournemouth

Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Harry Kane is close to making his Tottenham return after missing seven games with an ankle injury.

The England forward sustained ligament damage after scoring the winner against Sunderland in September, and has not played since.

He returned to training this week but was not fit enough to make Spurs’ matchday squad for their goalless draw with Bournemouth in the Premier League.

However, the 23-year-old could be back on the pitch very soon, with Pochettino positive about his ongoing recovery.

“He’s not too far [away],” Pochettino said of Kane at his post-match media conference.

“Every day we need to assess. We are very positive.

“We’ll see if he starts to be available very soon.”

Goals have been hard to come by without Kane and Saturday’s blank means that Spurs have only scored one goal in their last three games in all competitions.

Pochettino remains positive about Tottenham’s attacking threat, but has acknowledged their inability to score may come back to haunt them later in the campaign.

“I’m not concerned,” he added. “When we analyse all the situations and the other things involved around the team, it’s true we need to improve.

“It’s true that if we want to be a real contender [for the title] after two away games at West Bromwich and Bournemouth, we need to win at least one.

“At the same time, we need to see the value in the point.

“The effort was fantastic, but to be contenders, you should or must win one game.”