Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has a couple of injury worries ahead of the clash with Huddersfield Town this weekend.
Despite the low temperatures and poor conditions, Spurs did well to thrash Rochdale 6-1 at Wembley stadium and book a place in the next round of the FA Cup on Wednesday night.
The next target for Mauricio Pochettino’s side is to secure a victory over Huddersfield in order to maintain their strong push for a finish in the top four of the Premier League this season.
However, this weekend’s match could see Tottenham without the services of key defender Toby Alderweireld again.
Alderweireld was not available for the matches against Crystal Palace and Rochdale and is now ruled out of the upcoming fixture due to a hamstring injury.
The 28-year-old is struggling to make a return to action and thus, the Spurs manager has admitted he is unlikely to be available for the midweek Champions League date.
“He is still recovering. He is still not participating with the group,” said Pochettino.
“When you tear a muscle, then you are fit but fit to participate in training. And then, it’s to be fit to play, and then to compete. It’s a different process and sometimes it’s longer, depending on the injury.
“Sometimes, the people create an expectation and then we are the bad guys, when we say ‘no you cannot play’ or we start to build your fitness step by step.
“It’s our responsibility sometimes, but it’s impossible to explain everything. It’s just to be careful about the player because we want Toby 100 per cent ready to play.
“And then it’s my decision to pick him. But if you have your best player at 100 per cent, it’s sure that he increases your level and he’s going to help.
“But we don’t take our decisions based on public opinion. We are professional and when we take a decision, it’s because we have assessed and analysed, we have thought 100 times to try to take the best decision for the team and for the player.”