Christian Eriksen will be available for Tottenham's visit to West Ham on Saturday, according to Mauricio Pochettino, despite the uncertainty surrounding his abdominal injury.
The midfielder has sat out Spurs's past four matches and there were fears that he could face an extended lay-off when the Denmark manager, Åge Hareide, said the problem could become "chronic". Hareide suggested Denmark's marquee player had carried the injury for a little while.
Eriksen's agent, Martin Schoots, moved to play down the controversy by blaming a mistranslation of Hareide's words. Schoots said that Eriksen's problem was simply "related to some fatigue". He added: "Christian is having some rest and that is normal because otherwise it [the injury] would not heal."
Eriksen played every minute of Tottenham’s first seven matches of the season and Pochettino said that his only issue before the West Ham match was whether Eriksen should come on as a starter or a substitute.
“Christian’s agent explained fantastically after the comment of the Denmark manager,” Pochettino said. “Christian is ready again to compete and play but it will be our decision if he’s going to play on Saturday or not – from the beginning or from the bench. That’s a decision I’m going to take on Friday. I think there’s nothing to say about the comment of the Denmark manager.”
Pochettino will also welcome back Mousa Dembélé after a thigh injury but Dele Alli (hamstring) and Danny Rose (groin) are, according to the manager, seven to 10 days away from fitness. That timeframe would see them miss Wednesday's crucial Champions League trip to PSV Eindhoven, but could have them back for the Manchester City game at Wembley on Monday week. Jan Vertonghen (hamstring) is out until December.
“The most important thing is that we have started to recover players,” Pochettino said. “We have seven games between now and November 10th and it’s so important to have nearly all the squad fit.”
– Guardian
