MONACO -- Toby Alderweireld will not be fit for Tottenham's match at Chelsea on Saturday, Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed.
Alderweireld has missed Spurs' last seven matches, including Tuesday's 2-1 Champions League defeat at AS Monaco, after damaging a nerve in his knee in the 1-1 draw at West Brom on Oct. 15.
Pochettino was initially positive on the Belgian's prognosis, giving him an outside chance of facing Leicester on Oct. 29 and then saying last Thursday that he could return at Stamford Bridge.
But after the match at the Stade Louis II, which eliminated Spurs in the Champions League group stage, the manager confirmed to reporters that Alderweireld would not be ready for Chelsea. He is expected to be unavailable for at least another week.
In his absence, Spurs struggled against the Ligue 1 side -- who have scored 39 goals in 13 league matches this season -- but their cause was not helped by Pochettino's decision to rest Alderweireld's Belgium teammate and usual partner Jan Vertonghen and right-back Kyle Walker. Pochettino and Vertonghen both said he was fit to play after the match.
Walker's absence was less of a surprise because he also sat out at CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen and Pochettino very rarely risks playing the England international three times in a week, even though Walker feels he is over his historic injury problems and that he can play in every match.