Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld ruled out until February

Tottenham Hotspur will have to do without Toby Alderweireld until February after the defender was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

The Belgium international had a scan this week on the hamstring which has kept him out of first-team action since beating Real Madrid at Wembley at the start of November.

It was hoped that Alderweireld would return for the very end of the festive fixtures or at the very least the beginning of 2018, but he will now not be back until February at the earliest, in a blow to Spurs’ hopes of regaining a top-four place after a series of stagnant results came to an end against Stoke on Saturday.

He will likely return for what looks to be the toughest period of Spurs’ season when they face Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal before the Champions League resumes against Juventus.

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Alderweireld is expected to miss the first of those fixtures, against United, but will hope to be fit for the rest of that period.

“With him (Alderweireld) we have won and we have lost,” Mauricio Pochettino said. “For me Football is about the team, not individual players. Of course have more influence but win or lose it is about collective performance.”