Mauricio on Jan and the squad

Mauricio Pochettino said ‘the signals are very good’ after Jan Vertonghen returned to full training.

The Belgian international has been sidelined since picking up a hamstring injury at Huddersfield on 29 September and has missed nine matches in all competitions.

Jan’s possible return to the squad to face Chelsea is perfect timing and a boost on the eve of a huge week and clashes against the Blues on Saturday, Inter on Wednesday and Arsenal on Sunday week.

Speaking after training on Thursday, Mauricio told us: “We have another training session tomorrow but all the signals are very good.

“It’s very good news. In the last two weeks he’s been fully integrated into the group and, yes, we hope he can be available to start and to help the team.

“It’s good to have him back not only because he’s an experienced player, but we need all of our players fit. We have a difficult period ahead, we’re going to play a lot of games until the next international break (March). I’m sure we’ll need all the players fit and available to compete and help the team.”

Having completed a spell of seven games in 21 days before this international break, we now face 12 games between Saturday and New Year’s Day.

How would Mauricio and the management team deal with that fixture list? “It’s step-by-step and always the next game is the most important,” he said.

“We try to be competitive and help the players to recover after every single effort. We have to be careful, try to rotate and give rest to some players. The squad is so important and that every player is focused and available.

“It’s so important to take the best decisions for the team. We are the most qualified people to take those decisions because we’re here seven days a week with the players, we know how the squad is and how the players are. We want to win these games and we will take the decisions we believe will take us close to winning every game.”

It was suggested that the ‘step-by-step’ theory applied to this week as well with two huge London derbies sandwiching a must-win game in the Champions League.

“For now, it’s about being focused 100% on Chelsea and not thinking about Inter or Arsenal,” Mauricio explained. “We have to perform in the way we want to perform and try to be better than them. That will be tough because Chelsea are a very good team. So it’s step-by-step, being focused and the most important is the next game we’re going to play.”