Mauricio Pochettino recently confirmed that defender Toby Alderweireld has returned to training but would not be available for the clash with Chelsea on Saturday. The Belgian international has not played since the 1-1 draw with West Brom in October. Alderweireld is undoubtedly one of the biggest forces behind Tottenham’s strong defence. It is not surprising that the club has not kept a clean sheet in the last six matches of all competitions in the absence of the 27-year-old.
Tottenham were very much hoping that Alderweireld would be able to make it to the Chelsea match on Saturday. Now that he has been ruled out, it is undoubtedly a setback for the team going into the game at Stamford Bridge. There is, however, some positive news as the manager has confirmed that Alderweireld will be back for the game against Swansea City in the first week of December. As cited by Squawka, Pochettino said:
“Yes it’s true our expectation was to recover him. We miss him a lot but we are happy. Today he was involved with the squad with the ball.
“I don’t want to be wrong again. Hopefully he will be back as soon as possible. Tomorrow we will see if he can do the whole training session and next week will be key.”
Alderweireld has just returned to training and he may very well start against the league’s bottom club. It will actually fit in nicely towards his recovery back to the first team action, as Swansea have been one of the worst teams in the division so far with no wins since the opening day of the season.
Pochettino admitted that Spurs were banking heavily on getting Alderweireld for the game against Chelsea. The club have to focus heavily on the Premier League after having just been knocked out of the Champions League at the group stages.
A 2-1 defeat against Monaco saw Tottenham exit in the Champions League after just five games. Their participation in the Europa League knockout stages hangs in the balance with the club facing stiff competition from CSKA Moscow. The game against Monaco probably signified the importance of Alderweireld. Within minutes after having equalised, Tottenham conceded straight from the kick-off as the game went from sadness to ecstasy and then back to sadness again.
Tottenham have quickly addressed one of the biggest problems in recent weeks – scoring goals – by simply getting Harry Kane back into the first-team. The England international has scored four goals in his last three games for the club since his return from an eight-week injury layoff. In the past, Kane has taken time to warm up and find a goal scoring form. Thankfully, the 23-year-old did not need the same this time around and Spurs still remain in a strong position as far as the Premier League is concerned.
Despite a run of just one win in the last five matches, Spurs incredibly remain only one point behind Arsenal and a further point behind Manchester City. The Champions League knockout stage aspirations may have ended, but the top four race still offers great motivation.
