Tottenham's Danny Rose in contention to face Manchester United but Toby Alderweireld still not fit

Tottenham Hotspur left-back Danny Rose could play some part against Manchester United on Wednesday (31 January) but defender Toby Alderweireld will miss the visit of Jose Mourinho's side despite returning to full training following a hamstring problem, Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed.

Rose has missed over a month with a knee problem while Alderweireld has not played since injuring his hamstring during Spurs' famous win over Real Madrid in November last year.

But the pair managed to return to first team training earlier this week, along with Hugo Lloris, Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, who have overcome sickness and gluteus muscle problems respectively. The trio are expected to be available to face United, along with Rose, but Pochettino thinks Alderweireld needs to spend a little more time on the training ground before he can be considered for first-team action.

"Toby's still not fit," Pochettino said in his press conference, per Ham&High. "Danny Rose is on the list. He's in contention."

Alderweireld is not the only Tottenham set to miss United's trip to Wembley: Serge Aurier and Harry Winks are both undergoing "field-based reconditioning" at Spurs' training complex.

United are also missing a couple of influential figures in the form of Eric Bailly and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is attracting interest from LA Galaxy, but Mourinho will likely hand Alexis Sanchez his first league start for his new side after making his debut in the FA Cup fourth round victory over Yeovil Town on Friday.

Pochettino has already seen the damage Sanchez can do this season after the Chile international scored for Arsenal in the north London derby in November, but the Tottenham boss thinks United's latest recruit is just one of a host of supremely gifted attackers at Mourinho's disposal.

"I think he's a great player of course. One more that Manchester United added to their squad," Pochettino said, per Football.London. "Of course Alexis Sanchez, Mata, Lingard, Rashford, Martial, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic. Plenty of talented players, I think it's one option more and another great player they add to the squad."