Tottenham midfielder Harry Winks and attacker Erik Lamela could return for the club’s crunch London derby against West Ham this weekend, according to Football.London.
The football news website claim that the pair are closing in on a comeback from their respective injury blows and after sitting out Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Brighton could be reintroduced into the side by manager Mauricio Pochettino as they continue to push for a top four finish in the Premier League.
Lamela has not been seen in the side since March, his last top flight outing coming in the north London derby versus Arsenal, while managed 21 minutes against Crystal Palace at the start of April, missing the three games either side of that particular outing.
Opinion
Injuries have really taken their toll at Tottenham this season and that was made blatantly clear by the fact that Pochettino was forced to call upon former outcast Vincent Janssen on Tuesday evening with a lack of other attacking options. You can be sure that if Lamela was fit and ready to play against Brighton then the Dutchman would not have had a sniff of some rare minutes and so the Argentine will be hoping on taking his place among the side this weekend against West Ham. Of course it is important that they are not rushed back too quickly after their problems – after all, there are plenty of games left to play before the season comes to a close and the last thing Spurs need are the likes of Winks and Lamela aggravating what problems they are carrying at the moment. Expect to see the pair pick up some minutes from the bench against the Irons if they are included in the match squad, with Pochettino looking to get them up to speed sooner rather than later.