Alderweireld remains sidelined

Toby Alderierd's recovery from injury is taking longer than expected, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed.

The Belgian sustained a knee injury during his side's 1-1 draw with West Brom on 15 October but had been expected to make a swift return to the side.

However, he has yet to return to full training and will miss the weekend's Premier League fixture with West Ham.

“At the beginning we believed it would be a short process but the recovery has been very slow," Pochettino explained at his pre-match press conference.

"The knock he got has aggravated his nerves and that is difficult, but it’s true that today he is nearly ready to join the group and that is very good news. He will be available in one week or 10 days more if all goes well."

Erik Lamela and Ben Davies will miss the game against the Hammers, while Dele Alli will be assessed by the club's medical team on Friday.

Despite the lengthy injury list, Pochettino insists the club's training methods are not to blame for the situation.

“Sometimes things happen. You can control many things but sometimes the touch that causes an injury you cannot control, Toby’s injury was a very strange injury and you can also look at when Delle twisted his ankle," he said.

"But we are not worried. The only thing that would be worrying was if the same injury was being repeated every month. We have different injuries and it’s not about how we train it’s about football.

“With Lamela and Davies it will be a bit longer until we know. They have different problems and we’re not sure the time they’ll be out.

“We are very happy with Delle Alli. He showed today in training that he’s in very good condition. We need to know whether we take the risk to play him against West Ham, put him on the bench, or protect him for Tuesday next week. We’re happy it’s not a big issue.”

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