• Tottenham striker has had positive scan results for ankle-ligament injury • We are very happy, it was better than we expected, says Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino says he has received a positive update on Harry Kane’s recovery from an ankle-ligament injury and it is understood that the Tottenham Hotspur striker may now have the chance to return for the north London derby at Arsenal on 6 November.

The manager’s focus, however, was on how best to cope with the clutch of selection issues that have made the Champions League assignment against CSKA Moscow on Tuesday night even more demanding. Pochettino reported that Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Mousa Dembélé and Moussa Sissoko had remained in London with Kane, as they nursed injuries of what he suggested were of minor severity.

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Tottenham are on the back foot in Group E after their 2-1 home defeat against Monaco at Wembley in the opening round of fixtures and Pochettino will have to do without three of his midfielders against CSKA, together with the left‑back, Rose, who is still not free of the hamstring problem that he sustained on international duty with England against Slovakia on 4 September.

Dier and Dembele are short of fitness because of the hamstring injuries that they suffered against Sunderland on the Sunday before last while Sissoko took a bang to the head against Middlesbrough on Saturday which Tottenham are treating as a concussion.

“Dier and Dembélé are OK but we don’t want to take a risk,” Pochettino said. “We have a lot of games ahead, a difficult period, and then it’s the national team fixtures. We will not take a risk with them. Dier and Danny Rose are at the same level. We will see with Mousa. But why take a risk when it’s only one or two days after we played against Middlesbrough? It makes no sense to take risks.”

Kane was injured in the Sunderland game and the club took no issue with the reports that said he would be out for eight weeks, which would have seen him sidelined until 12 November.

Pochettino has been extremely reluctant to publicly divulge any time-frames, because he feels it is unfair on Kane, but he did say that, just before he began his pre-match press conference here in Moscow, he had received good news that could “reduce the time” for which the striker is out. Any reduction would put Kane in line to face Arsenal on 6 November.

“Just half an hour ago, we received the information about the scan and it’s much, much better than we expected and maybe we can reduce the time,” Pochettino said. “We are happy. The scan was very positive and we are very happy. But still we cannot give how long it will be to recover. But it is sure we are happy because this scan was much better. It’s difficult to say one, two, three weeks. But it’s true that it is much better than we expected, and very, very positive.”