Tottenham sweating on serious injury to key defender

Tottenham momentarily cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League to four points on Saturday but were left with a sour taste after their win over West Brom as they wait to find out the extent of Jan Vertonghen’s ankle injury.

Vertonghen, 29, rolled his ankle during their 4-0 demolition of the Baggies and was immediately subbed off midway through the second half and manager Mauricio Pochettino conceded after the match that the initial signs were not promising.

The Belgium international has been immense for Tottenham this season and a long-term injury at this stage of the season would be a real blow for Pochettino’s men, particularly a trip to Manchester City to come in their next match.

“Yes it looks very bad,” The Daily Mirror quote Pochettino as saying after the win. “We feel very disappointed. It looks very bad but we need to wait and assess him on Monday or Tuesday.”

Asked whether a serious injury to Vertonghen would force Tottenham into the January transfer window, Pochettino was firm in his response. “No - no change,” he replied. “We have Ben Davies, Kevin Wimmer has played against Watford and Aston Villa. We have plenty of players. We won’t need another centre back.”

Vertonghen is currently enjoying his best season in a Tottenham shirt since his debut campaign for the club in 2012 (7.57 rating). Only Steve Cook (204) and Ben Mee (182) have completed more clearances in Europe’s big five leagues this season than Vertonghen (178).

For more stats on Jan Vertonghen, click here to visit his WhoScored player page