Tottenham injury news: Jan Vertonghen returns but doubts remain over Dele Alli and Harry Winks

Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a massive injury boost ahead of their lunchtime clash against Arsenal on Saturday, 18 November, after Jan Vertonghen overcame an ankle injury to feature for Belgium against Japan on Tuesday, 14 November.

The Spurs defender was ruled out of Belgium's first friendly against Mexico on Friday, 10 November, but manager Roberto Martinez was hopeful that he will recover from the minor knock and be ready for their game against Japan.

The former Everton manager confirmed ahead of the game that Vertonghen will feature and the Spurs defender played the entire 90 minutes of their 1-0 win, courtesy of a goal from Romelu Lukaku.

Liverpool's Simon Mignolet was also involved against Japan after missing the game against Mexico as he continues to battle Thibaut Courtois for the number one jersey.

"I can already tell you that [Liverpool goalkeeper] Simon Mignolet will start the match against Japan," Martinez said ahead of the game against Japan, as quoted by the London Evening Standard. [Watford defender] Christian Kabasele and Jan Vertonghen will also play."

Vertonghen's return will come as a major boost to Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino as it looks likely that he will be without Toby Alderweireld for the game against archrivals Arsenal. The latter suffered a hamstring injury during Spurs' win over Real Madrid in the Champions League and is unlikely to be fit in time for the north London derby.

The Argentine manager has persisted with the 3-4-2-1 formation since the start of the campaign and is likely to stick with it for the trip to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday. Alderweireld will be a big loss but the manager does have Eric Dier, who can play on the right side of a back-three. Another option will be to play Dier in the centre and move Davinson Sanchez, who has been impressive since arriving in the summer from Ajax, to the right side.

Alderweireld is not the manager's only concern ahead of the game, as Dele Alli, Harry Winks and Hugo Lloris all remain doubts after picking up injuries ahead of the international break. The former two of the aforementioned trio could be passed fit after Pochettino indicated that they are minor knocks, but the latter is likely to miss the game after suffering a hip injury during their win over Real Madrid earlier in the month.