Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has backed England teammate Raheem Sterling by describing media scrutiny of the Manchester City winger as "completely unfair".

Photographs of Sterling taking part in a training session with the Three Lions this week showed an assault rifle tattooed on his lower leg.

The tattoo has been dubbed inappropriate by anti-gun groups and some tabloid newspapers, but Sterling explained on social media that the image is part of an unfinished design paying tribute to his late father, who died in a shooting.

Sterling, who also apologised to his England teammates for arriving late to the team's training camp due to a mix-up with flights, has been supported by multiple figures in the game amid the press scrutiny.

Asked by Sky Sports News whether he thought that Sterling - who started for England in their 2-1 World Cup warm-up win over Nigeria on Saturday - was being unfairly criticised by the media, Kane responded: "I do.

"I think there's some criticism and articles that go around which are completely unfair but unfortunately that's part of the world we live in.

"In camp the focus is solely on football, the matches and building that team chemistry. And that's what we've been doing.

"Raheem's very strong mentally. He's been training very well, he's come out today and played excellently. As players, all we can do is fight and play for our country to the best of our ability."

Sterling weighed in with 23 goals and registered 12 assists for Premier League winners Man City this season.