Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino has suggested that he is not tempted to rush the return of Erik Lamela, who made an appearance for the reserves on Saturday.
After spending over a year on the sidelines with a hip injury, Lamela played for an hour for Spurs' Under-23 side against Chelsea to give the North Londoners a boost ahead of a hectic period.
However, after revealing that Lamela began to struggle after the early stages, Pochettino has hinted that the Argentine will look to make gradual improvements over a number of weeks.
The 45-year-old told reporters: "He played for the U23s and he played 60 minutes. After 20 minutes he started to feel something but that's normal after a year.
"You can train in two hours, but when you compete you feel different. We are happy with him because it's important. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks. But we hope he start to feel better and better and be ready to be selected in the first team."
Lamela has scored 19 goals from 119 appearances for Spurs since signing from Roma in 2013.
Darren Plant
