Eddie Howe reveals admiration for Tottenham striker Harry Kane
Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe is a confirmed Harry Kane fan having spent years watching the Tottenham striker's progress.
Howe even tried to sign him on loan while he was in charge at Burnley but on Sunday he will be the Cherries can extend the England marksman's run without a goal.
Kane has scored just once in 13 matches for his club as he struggles to rediscover the brilliant form of last season but Howe insists that does not mean he can be written off.
"Looking at the games he has had chances in all of them. He is still in the right positions but things haven't quite broken his way," Howe said.
"I've watched him for a long time now and he always impressed me. I tried to bring him in several times (at Burnley) and tended to miss out.
"Someone like that I really admire. I watched him a lot coming through the ranks at Tottenham and I remember him playing for Millwall against my Burnley side and he was outstanding.
"It is pleasing to see him doing well in the Premier League. It is sometimes a difficult journey as a young player when you go out to League One and the Championship as you can feel you are a long way from the Premier League.
"He's done it the hard way and deserves all the success.
"The key thing for us is to stop him creating chances, but every game I've seen he has been there and just missing out on the final touch. There is nothing wrong with his movement."
Howe is still awaiting an update on the thigh injury which forced goalkeeper Artur Boruc out of last weekend's 5-1 defeat at Manchester City during the warm-up.
Adam Federici had to deputise and made a couple of errors but he retains the faith of his manager.
"Feds is an experienced goalkeeper. There are not many things he has not seen and mistakes are part of the job," Howe added.
"The disappointing thing for him was a lot of his good work against City was forgotten because of a couple of mistakes.
"What people are going to focus on is the goals you concede and he will be disappointed for himself.
"It is a difficult situation when you are thrust into action and you are not anticipating it but we didn't protect him very well."
Midfielders Andrew Surman (calf) and Marc Pugh (rib) are fit while forward Lee Tomlin has recovered from illness.
Dele Alli is hoping Tottenham can bounce back from their Europa League disappointment with victory at Bournemouth.
The England midfielder came off the bench in Thursday night's clash with Anderlecht but could not help prevent Spurs slipping to a 2-1 loss that leaves Group J wide open at the midway stage.
Despite their indifferent form in Europe, Tottenham have not lost in the Premier League since an opening-day defeat to Manchester United and Alli is ready to maintain that run at the Vitality Stadium.
"The boys are disappointed from the defeat to Anderlecht but I think it's important that we pick ourselves up and move on," he told the club's official website.
We'll keep working hard in training, take the positives from that game and work on the negatives. There are no easy games in the Premier League but hopefully we can get the three points on Sunday."
Alli will be competing with the likes of Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier and Ryan Mason for a place in Mauricio Pochettino's midfield.
Although the former MK Dons man is expecting a challenge, he has backed Spurs to do the business on the south coast.
"I'm really excited and I can't wait to get out there for the game," Alli said.
"It's not going to be easy. Bournemouth are a great team, they've got a lot of strengths but so have we, so hopefully we're going to go there, play our own game and try to get the three points.
"We're going to their patch, they're not going to make it easy for us and we know we're going to have to fight for the win, but I think we've got a great team so we'll work as hard as we can."
Like Alli, Kane came off the bench in Brussels having only been deemed fit enough to be a substitute after sustaining a knock in the draw with Liverpool.
But the England forward is also likely to come back into the side having once again been backed by Pochettino despite only scoring one club goal this campaign.
Ryan Mason could be involved after recovering from a knee injury but Son Heung-min (foot), Federico Fazio (hamstring) and Nabil Bentaleb and Nacer Chadli (both ankle) are all missing.
Source: PAR
