Tottenham Hotspur confirm injured quintet have not travelled to Moscow for Champions League clash

Tottenham Hotspur will be missing a key quintet of players for Tuesday's (27 September) Champions League clash against CSKA Moscow. Mauricio Pochettino's side have travelled to the Russian capital for their second Group E fixture without Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele and Moussa Sissoko, all of whom have remained in the United Kingdom to continue their respective injury recoveries.

First-choice striker Kane scored what proved to be the winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Sunderland last weekend but was substituted during the closing stages at White Hart Lane after damaging ankle ligaments while attempting to tackle Papy Djilobodji. Initial speculation suggested that the 23-year-old could be sidelined for up to two months, but Pochettino subsequently revealed that the club did not want to put a specific time frame on his return. The manager further commented before Saturday's narrow win at Middlesbrough that a second scan was required to determine exactly how long he would miss.

The versatile Dier suffered a hamstring problem against Sunderland, while left-back Rose has not played at all since hurting his own hamstring during England's opening 1-0 2018 World Cup qualifying victory in Slovakia at the start of September.

Pochettino confirmed after that defeat of newly-promoted 'Boro, which came courtesy of a brace from in-form forward Son Heung-min, that both players were "very close to fitness" and that he needed to make a decision as to whether or not to take any risks in Moscow.

Despite that initial optimism, however, Pochettino has confirmed that Dier and Rose have both stayed at home with Kane. French international Sissoko, who arrived in a £30m ($38.8m) deal from Newcastle United on transfer deadline day, started against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium but was replaced by Erik Lamela after 70 minutes, having sustained a suspected concussion. Fellow midfielder Dembele still appears to be nursing a hamstring strain suffered during that costly second half against Sunderland.

Tottenham will be hoping for a positive result in Russia after marking the opening of their first Champions League campaign for five years with a disappointing 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco in front of a record Wembley crowd a fortnight ago. CSKA, meanwhile, fought back from an early 2-0 deficit away to Bayer Leverkusen and claimed a valuable point thanks to first-half goals from Alan Dzagoev and Roman Eremenko. Leonid Slutsky's side won their sixth Russian Premier League title ahead of FC Rostov on the final day of last season and currently sit second in 2016-17, one point adrift of rivals Spartak Moscow.