Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane hoping for earlier return from injury layoff than expected

Harry Kane is using the power of positive thinking to try to hand Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino a huge boost by returning from his ankle injury in just three weeks.

Spurs have put no official timescale on Kane’s return from ankle ligament damage he suffered against Millwall in the FA Cup.

Some sources believe the north London derby against Arsenal is Kane’s most realistic comeback date, which would mean he would have missed a total of six weeks.

But Kane has told Pochettino that he is hoping to be back in half that time and the Argentine believes positivity can be a great healer.

“We need to assess day by day,” said Pochettino. “Harry’s positive. He’s talking about coming back after international break, three or four weeks, very positive.

“That’s good, but we need to be careful with his injury. We have full trust in our doctors and physios. We hope that as soon as possible he can be available again. That’s our wish.

“I express my feeling and the way we are at the training ground. Don’t take my word for it. If not four weeks it’s five weeks, six weeks or whatever. But he’s positive and if you’re positive it can affect in a big way the injuries.”

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Tottenham will certainly be without Kane for Sunday’s Premier League game against Southampton, but Pochettino is confident that Son Heung-min and Vincent Janssen can fill the void.

“We have many players who can cope with that pressure,” said Pochettino.”After seven minutes Harry went off against Millwall and then six goals, a hat-trick for Sonny and then Vincent. We are confident in our players and squad, and now we try not to find excuses and perform and score goals and win games. That’s the challenge for the squad.”

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Janssen scored his first goal for Tottenham from open play against Millwall and Pochettino added: “You see different players arrive this season, there’s a lot of examples. When you have a main striker like Harry Kane, it’s difficult for a second or third striker to take his place.

“He’s very young and came from Holland, a different league, the adaptation is difficult but he’s in the process to learn and improve. It’s only his first season in England.”

On Son, Pochettino said: “The system we use in last few months has not allowed us to play with two or three strikers but with Harry Kane not available he will have chance to play more.”