Tottenham team news update: Poch could be without 5 players for Man Utd clash

Tottenham will look to keep the pressure on the top two with a win when they take on Manchester United at Wembley on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, the north Londoners have offered a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Lucas Moura, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama.

Moura was forced to miss the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg win over Chelsea in midweek after picking up a knee injury during the FA Cup win over Tranmere last week and the Brazilian attacker remains a doubt for the visit of Man Utd on Sunday.

Dier returned to full training with the rest of the Tottenham squad on Thursday after recovering from appendicitis that ruled him out of the entire festive and New Year period. However, the versatile midfielder is lacking match fitness so won’t be in contention to face United this weekend.

Wanyama will also miss out once again on Sunday as the Kenyan international is still working his way back from a long-standing knee injury that’s hampered him for much of the season.

Dembele has recently returned to full training after recovering from an ankle injury that’s kept him on the sidelines for over a month but Mauricio Pochettino says the midfielder lacks match fitness so is unlikely to be involved against Man Utd.

Vertonghen appears to have more chance of being named in the squad this weekend as Pochettino says he will ‘assess’ the defender after he returned to full training following a thigh injury but a place on the bench is probably the best he can hope for on Sunday.

TEAM NEWS:@ericdier (appendicitis) has started to join in with some team training sessions and remains unavailable.@LucasMoura7 (knee) is being assessed ahead of Sunday’s match.@VictorWanyama (knee) is progressing to late stages of rehabilitation.#COYS pic.twitter.com/GJ69Nd0h5x

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 11, 2019

Jan/Dembele fitness: "I don't believe Mousa, still not match fit. He's training with the group, but not match fit. Vertonghen I need to assess because we have plenty of centre-backs. He's in the same position as Mousa. See if we have a space in the starting XI, bench or not.

— Alasdair Gold (@AlasdairGold) January 11, 2019

We’ll have to wait and see whether Moura is passed fit but if he’s ruled out and Pochettino doesn’t risk Dembele and Vertonghen, then Spurs will be without five players against United on Sunday.

Tottenham head in to the weekend action sitting third in the table – two points off Man City and six adrift of Liverpool – so the north Londoners can keep themselves in the mix for the title with a win over United at Wembley.