Mauricio Pochettino believes Harry Kane will “learn a lot” from the controversy over Tottenham’s second goal against Stoke last Saturday. Spurs chose to appeal a decision to award the goal to Christian Eriksen, after Kane claimed the Dane’s free-kick touched his shoulder on the way into the net.

The Premier League goals accreditation panel this week upheld the complaint and gave the goal to Kane. Pochettino said the process had not caused any tension in his camp and insisted he trusts Kane, who is an “honest” player.

Harry Kane awarded goal at Stoke by Premier League after Twitter plea Read more

The Spurs manager did admit, however, that the strength of the public response – which include messages on social media from Mo Salah, Kane’s rival for the Golden Boot – had caught the striker by surprise. “Of course, he never thought that this situation would escalate, when he was so certain that he touched the ball,” Pochettino said. “After the game Harry said he touched the ball with a shoulder, he told Christian. I think Harry is a very honest person, he’s not going to lie about this situation. It’s not a big issue for the team.

“It’s normal that he was a little bit disappointed [by the response] because Harry and all our players have Twitter, Instagram and all those things and while Tottenham fans will have supported him, fans of other clubs will have killed him.

“People have opinions, but that is normal. He was disappointed because he never wanted to create this. Sometimes it can seem a simple thing, and then it becomes big and you can’t stop it. That is what happened here. I think he is going to learn a lot from this you know.”

Spurs play Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday with Kane hoping to close the gap on Salah in the race to be the division’s top scorer. Kane has 25 Premier League goals to the Egyptian’s 29.

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When asked if the week’s activity might provide extra motivation for Salah, however, Pochettino replied: “If Salah needs this situation to inspire him? Come on, you make me laugh.”