Erik Lamela in frame for Tottenham's visit to Leicester after year on sidelines, reveals Mauricio Pochettino
Lamela has not played in 2017 due to a hip injury but his manager says the winger is ready to make his long-awaited return
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Your support makes all the difference.Mauricio Pochettino has welcomed Erik Lamela back to his squad after revealing the winger could make his long-awaited return to action against Leicester City on Tuesday evening.
Lamela has not played since October last year due to a series of complaints with his hip, which required surgery. He has been taking part in full training and played a reserve game against Chelsea Under-23s earlier this month.
“Good news that Erik has stepped up and is in contention for tomorrow,” said Pochettino. ”Always in a very busy schedule you need everyone fit to hep the team that is very good news for the team.
“After more than one year it is so important to feel again the emotion to play and compete. Of course [I am] so happy because he going to help the team a lot.”
It has been a long wait for his fellow Argentine's return, but Pochettino said he was in doubt that Lamela would one day play for Spurs again.
"No, never doubts. We trusted in our medical staff and him that he's a very competitive player, always focused on his recovery. It's true that after a year it's difficult for a player to be fit and find the feelings in the competition when it's an injury for long term. Always it's not easy and the expectations need to be low.
"Maybe similar to Danny Rose, after 10 months or year it's similar. You need to provide them the time to be fit and feel again the competition. With Lamela there's no pressure on him, only to feel he's a player in the competition again."
Spurs are in need of a positive result following a disappointing 1-1 draw with managerless West Brom on Saturday, a result which saw them fall behind Chelsea and Arsenal to fifth in the Premier League. They are 13 points from the leaders, Manchester City, but the manager is focused on the the club's long-term progress.
"I think if you remember everything that happened three years ago, no-one would believe we would be talking about finishing first, beating Dortmund and Real Madrid and finishing first in the Champions League and have the capacity in the last three seasons to fight for the top four and the Premier League.
"We were talking about in the next three or four seasons arriving to the new stadium and trying to reduce the gap to the top four, and now we are involved in the battle for the best competitions in the world."
Toby Alderweireld (hamstring) and Victor Wanyama (knee) remain out of contention and Harry Winks will be assessed before the game, having been suffering from an illness this week, but Danny Rose is expected to be fit to play.
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