Tuesday 27 September 2016 00:13, UK
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has said Harry Kane could return much sooner than expected, revealing he was "very, very happy" about the latest scan on his injured striker.
Kane sustained an ankle ligament injury against Sunderland eight days ago and misses the trip to face CSKA Moscow, along with Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Moussa Sissoko.
It means Spurs are under-strength in the Russian capital on Tuesday but Pochettino's mood was lifted by the news regarding Kane, who was reportedly facing eight weeks out of action.
"Half an hour ago, we received the information about the scan. It's much, much better than we expected," Pochettino said.
"We are happy, it was very positive, the scan. We're very, very happy about this news but still we cannot give a time of how long it'll be to recover.
"I am not a doctor, it's hard to say one, two, three weeks, but it's much, much better than we expected."
If Kane were to recover in time for the north London derby at Arsenal on November 6, he could also be in contention for England's World Cup qualifier against Scotland five days later.
Tottenham will have to do without their star man in the brand new CSKA Arena, however, where they are looking to get off the mark in Group E following an opening defeat to Monaco at Wembley.
Dier and Rose are also out but Pochettino said the pair are more likely than Dembele to make Sunday's Sky Live match against Premier League leaders Manchester City.
Ben Davies is likely to stand in for Rose at left-back while Dele Alli could drop into central midfield alongside the more defensive Victor Wanyama.
"Dier, Dembele and Rose are OK but we don't want to take a risk," Pochettino said. "Dier and Danny Rose are at the same level but Mousa, we'll see.
"Why take a risk when we played one or two days ago at Boro and we have another game on Tuesday?"
