Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed Harry Kane could play some part in Sunday's north London derby against Arsenal as he nears a return from an ankle injury.
The England international sustained the problem in the latter stages of Spurs' 1-0 win over Sunderland in September.
In a media conference on Tuesday, Pochettino confirmed Kane would not feature against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League a day later, but he is optimistic of having the striker back for the crunch clash at Emirates Stadium.
"He will not be on the bench [against Leverkusen]," said Pochettino, who also revealed Erik Lamela was struggling with a hip injury and was a doubt for the Group E meeting at Wembley.
"It's good because you can see him do the warm up with the team, to be involved in some exercises, but for tomorrow he is not ready. Maybe [Sunday].
"He made half the training session with the team. Then there was a specific training session for him and for Toby [Alderweireld] it was the same.
"Yesterday he [Kane] was involved in some drills with the whole group. Today was an increase in participation with the first team. After tomorrow he will be involved with the whole group and the whole training session.
"In the last few seasons he was very important for the team. He's our top striker and one of the best in Europe. Now Harry is very close to being back it's very important for the team."
With an international break coming up following the derby with Arsenal, Pochettino was happy to concede that Kane playing against the Gunners would make him available for national team duty.
"If Harry will be available we cannot stop that. It's up to the manager [Gareth Southgate] if he wants to select him or not. He's available for Sunday and the doctor said to us he can be available.
"We are pro-national team for all the players, and if Harry will be available and we are not stupid to say no. We need to understand that we want the best for the team and the play.
"It's true it maybe makes more sense for the national team to say 'stay at home for two weeks'. But if they think they need him and he's available to play against Arsenal, we cannot stop that.
"It's difficult to stop. If I select him to play Sunday against Arsenal we open the door for the national team to select too.
"Danny Rose was available against Manchester City after his injury in the national team and then they used him for nearly two full games and we cannot manage that. They can use the players but it's not in our hands to manage them on the national team."
