‘Mysterious’ Lamela injury causing Spurs ‘serious concern’

Erik Lamela: Faces lengthy lay-off

Tottenham are to send Erik Lamela for more tests after Mauricio Pochettino admitted Tottenham are “starting to be concerned” about the Argentine’s mystery hip injury.

The Argentina playmaker will undergo a scan on Friday on the injury that has kept him sidelined since October – and that is yet to be diagnosed.

Lamela has been working with a physiotherapist at former club Roma in a bid to ease the problem, but Spurs boss Pochettino admitted it is now becoming a real worry.

“Tomorrow he will have a scan,” said Pochettino.

“It’s still difficult to give a time for him to come back. We need to wait for what happens tomorrow. There are still some problems, and we’re not sure of the diagnosis.

“So we need to wait for tomorrow. Now we are starting to be concerned about him, because it’s nearly three months and we’re still in a situation with no movement.”

Asked if Lamela will need an operation to resolve the problem, Pochettino continued: “Today nobody advises that. It’s better to wait until after tomorrow.”

 

Vertonghen injury update

Jan Vertonghen: Awaiting injury news

Tottenham will take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, bidding to set a club Premier League record of seven consecutive victories.

Pochettino has challenged Spurs to prove to themselves that they can be genuine title contenders, while also revealing Jan Vertonghen’s ankle injury is not as serious as first feared.

Spurs worried defender Vertonghen would miss three months, but now Pochettino hopes the Belgian centre-back will only be missing for six weeks.

“Jan is okay, he’s very positive, we are pushing him a lot,” said Pochettino.

“We expect him to be out for six weeks, less than we first thought. I don’t want to set a limit or the time, but I think that’s very positive.

“When your mind is good, positive, you can even recover early.”