Harry Kane feels he has benefited from his seven-week break after returning from injury and scoring Tottenham’s equaliser at Arsenal in the north London derby.

Kane was stretchered off with ankle ligament damage after netting Spurs’ winner against Sunderland on September 18, and he missed 10 matches for his club.

He made his long-awaited return against the Gunners on Sunday, scoring an equalising penalty in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates.

And, while the 23-year-old would rather have avoided his time in the treatment room, he admits the rest has probably done him good after two years of non-stop action that included two successive summer tournaments representing England’s Under-21s and the senior national side.

“I never want to be injured or missing games but when you get injured you have to look at the positives to help you,” he said. “It gave me seven weeks off to rest the other muscles that haven’t been rested in a while.

“I had a break early on when I first got injured, I went away with the missus. But after that there were double sessions in the gym and outside to maintain my health and fitness so that when I was called upon, like at Arsenal, I was ready for it.

“I felt fine. I’ve been working hard to be ready and I wouldn’t have been out there if I wasn’t feeling good enough. I’m happy with it. I still need to get some match fitness, but I was delighted to be out there and to score.”

While Spurs initially coped well without Kane, winning four successive games after his injury, they then slumped, failing to secure a victory in their six following matches and only scoring three goals in that time.

“It has been difficult [watching it], especially with the team going through a bit of a spell where we haven’t been winning games,” said Kane.

“It’s hard, it’s like watching my family - I just want to be out there helping them. But it’s part of it. I was there training with the team, I was around them.

“It’s been a difficult spell for us but we came out against Arsenal and played very well - we could have even nicked it.”

Kane admits he relishes the responsibility of being Spurs’ primary goal threat: “It’s what it’s all about, I’m in the team to score goals,” said the striker.

“I try to score as many as I can in the season to help the team out. Whenever I’m on the pitch I feel confident.

“I had a header in the first half which went just wide, an effort at the back post which I didn’t get the best contact on and I obviously scored a penalty. It was great to be back in those situations and to be back among the goals.”

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