Tottenham Hotspur set to be missing James Maddison for Manchester United clash

Tottenham Hotspur are expected to be without the services of James Maddison for their Premier League clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford on January 14.

The England international has not featured for Spurs since picking up an ankle injury during the league contest with Chelsea at the start of November.

Tottenham have been without Maddison for their last nine matches in England's top flight, but there had been a hope that he would return for the league clash with Man United.

The playmaker is yet to resume training with the North London club, though, so he is almost certainly ruled out of the clash with the 20-time English champions in Manchester.

"[Maddison] is not training with us yet. As I've said before, until they train with us it's hard for me to put a timeline on it," Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou told reporters ahead of his side's 1-0 win over Burnley in the FA Cup.

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"He's running with a sports science crew but not with us. He's not likely to be with us for the next couple of weeks."

Maddison was regularly linked with a move to Man United during his time at Leicester City, but Tottenham won the race for his signature during the summer transfer window.

The attacker was in strong form for Postecoglou's side in the early stages of the campaign, scoring three goals and registering six assists in 12 appearances.

Maddison's return could instead come in the fourth round of the FA Cup towards the end of January, with Spurs securing their spot in the next stage of the competition courtesy of a one-goal success over Burnley.

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A spectacular strike from Pedro Porro in the latter stages of the contest saw the capital outfit advance in the tournament at the expense of Vincent Kompany's side.

"You can sit there and analyse it, but ultimately in a cup competition it's about being successful to get through to the next round, because in every game you're going to play in a knockout competition it's going to take something on the day to get it done," Postecoglou told reporters in his post-match press conference.

"Sometimes that can be something conventional, sometimes it's unconventional or something special like tonight - as long as it gets the job done."

Tottenham were also victorious in their last Premier League match, beating Bournemouth 3-1 at home, with the result leaving them in fifth position in the table on 39 points, just one point behind fourth-placed Arsenal.