Harry Kane
Tottenham striker Harry Kane's return from an ankle ligament injury will come sooner than expected Julian Finney/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur have received a sizeable boost with regards to Harry Kane's recovery from an ankle injury, with manager Mauricio Pochettino revealing that the results of his latest scan are "much better" than originally anticipated.

The England striker was stretchered off with damaged ligaments after netting the winner for his side in a 1-0 Premier League victory over 10-man Sunderland at White Hart Lane eight days ago and it was initially believed that he faced the prospect of up to two months out. Tottenham did little to counter those initial concerns, with the manager insisting after an initial scan that the club would continue to assess him every day and did not wish to put an exact time frame on his rehabilitation.

Pochettino subsequently confirmed before Saturday's 2-1 win at Middlesbrough that Kane would undergo a second scan to help predict how long he would be sidelined and it appears that he could now be in a position to return within as little as three weeks.

"We got scan results short while ago," Pochettino was quoted as saying by the club at a press conference held in Russia on Monday (26 September) before tomorrow night's Champions League Group E clash against CSKA Moscow at Arena Khimki.

"It was much better than we thought. We're happy with it but we can't give a time."

Although still evidently reluctant to estimate exactly how many matches Kane might miss, he added: "I am not a doctor, it's hard to say one, two, three weeks."

Kane has obviously not travelled to Eastern Europe with his teammates, instead remaining in London with fellow injury casualties Moussa Sissoko and Danny Rose. Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele were believed to be in contention after making good progress in their recuperation from hamstring issues sustained in that same match against Sunderland, although Pochettino has decided to exercise caution for the time being.

"Eric Dier and Mousa Dembele are recovering from minor problems," he added. "They are progressing but we prefer not to take a risk."