Mauricio Pochettino hopes Harry Kane will be back to face Arsenal next weekend but said he will not rush the England striker or his other injured players until they are ready.
Tottenham will also be without the influential defender Toby Alderweireld when they entertain Leicester on Saturday after the Belgian failed to recover from a knee injury. That means Eric Dier is expected to continue alongside Jan Vertonghen at centre-half, with Son Heung-min likely to continue in place of Kane in attack despite Vincent Janssen scoring from the penalty spot against Liverpool in midweek.
Pochettino, who laughed off suggestions that he may try to tempt Sergio Agüero to Spurs amid rumours that the Argentina striker is unsettled at Manchester City, was not keen to commit to a return date for Kane; the striker has been absent since last month due to an ankle injury. Tottenham face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday before facing their north London rivals on 6 November.
“It’s difficult to know with Harry, but we’ll see,” Pochettino said. “If not Wednesday, maybe Sunday [for Arsenal]. If not, we have to wait two weeks until after the international break.”
Pochettino said his players face training in injury rehabilitation that is almost tougher than regular sessions, in order to maintain peak fitness.
“They are not frustrated, that’s a word we don’t like to use,” Pochettino said of Kane and Alderweireld. “They feel very well, they’re working very hard and they suffer a lot.
“Do you know why they want to be available quickly? Because we kill them when they are injured. They have double sessions every day, and they suffer, to keep fit then.
“It’s a good thing to say, ‘Hey come on, work hard’. That’s a good thing. They are very positive but you cannot accelerate sometimes the process in your body.
“We can only work hard to keep them fit and, when the doctors say they are available, that’s when they are available. It’s true that the players always want to play all the time but sometimes it’s not possible.”
