LONDON -- Erik Lamela is facing an undetermined period on the sidelines after Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted the club are "worried" about the winger's hip injury.
Lamela has not played since the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool in the EFL Cup in October, despite Pochettino initially describing his problem as minor.
"It's too difficult to explain because I am not a doctor but we are a bit worried about his situation," Pochettino told a news conference on Thursday. "His evolution is not in the way we expect, it is too difficult to explain as I'm not a specialist.
"We need to give him more time to recover. It is a hip problem but I cannot say when [he will return]."
Lamela will definitely miss Saturday's home match against Swansea, along with Ben Davies who has an ankle injury, while Toby Alderweireld remains a doubt with nerve damage suffered against West Brom, despite training this week.
TEAM NEWS: "Danny Rose is available again after suspension. @Ben_Davies33 and @ErikLamela are still out." pic.twitter.com/zBAWgAcCd5
- Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 1, 2016
"Lamela and Ben [Davies] are still out but Toby was involved during the week in the training session," Pochettino continued. "We are very happy with his evolution but he has a small thing, we are not sure, we need to assess tomorrow if he can be available.
"It's the same problem that he got against West Bromwich. His evolution is good, he is involved in all the training during the week but still he feels he is not 100 percent."
Spurs have won once in nine matches without Alderweireld and face the Swans on the back of 2-1 defeats to both Monaco and Chelsea.
However, Pochettino says the improved performance in last Saturday's loss at Stamford Bridge has helped the players to recover the feeling they had after the dominant 2-0 win over Manchester City at the beginning of October, their standout display of this season.
"It's true that the last month and a half we all feel disappointed, for different reasons, it is too difficult to explain, we talk a lot but we don't perform in the way we hope.
"I am very happy last week after Chelsea, we played well, recovered the feeling as after City game. We were all excited after that game. After Chelsea, we lost but we recovered the feeling that we can play well.
"That week was perfect because we can spend time together, training hard, a lot of meetings, the answer from the players were fantastic. We only need to deliver Saturday and do a great job to try and get the three points," Pochettino added.
"We can analyse the last two games, one win and one loss against Chelsea, or we can analyse and say 13 games unbeaten. But I understand. We need time -- to show the big picture is too difficult. I am calm.
"I know we have a very good squad, very good players. For different reasons maybe we drop a little bit in our performance and results, sometimes it is not easy to explain because it is small details that happen around the team.
"The important thing is Chelsea was a good test and we played very well. I don't think we deserved to lose that game. It is for that it is important now to be calm.
"We are training very well and I think we realise the many things that happen in the last month and a half. It is about learning and improving."