Toby Alderweireld has not played for Tottenham since November because of a hamstring injury.
With five games across three different competitions, the next few weeks could define Tottenham Hotspur’s season.
Spurs visit Newport County in the fourth round on the FA Cup on Saturday before a run of Premier League fixtures against Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal. And then comes Juventus in the Champions League.
The Lilywhites will need to be at their best to survive this group of fixtures with their top-four and trophy hopes intact, so news of Toby Alderweireld’s return from injury will come as a major boost to manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Tottenham’s record with and without the 28-year-old defender proves that he remains second only to Harry Kane in terms of importance to the team’s fortunes, despite Davinson Sanchez providing improved cover this season.
In Alderweireld’s last 40 Premier League outings, Spurs have only conceded 25 goals and average 2.28 points per game. In 22 matches without him, the record is 23 goals conceded and an average of 1.55 points per contest.
Those points-per-game records would put Tottenham second to Manchester City in the table if Alderweireld had played every match, and sixth, five points behind Arsenal, had he not featured at all over the first 24 games.
That is the difference that Alderweireld makes to this Tottenham team. They will be thrilled to have him back.
As the Daily Mail reports, Tottenham have yet to tie the former Ajax defender down to a new long-term contract in North London. If those statistics aren’t enough to convince chairman Daniel Levy to cough up, then nothing will.
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