Mauricio Pochettino fears Erik Lamela could be ruled out for season

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has suggested Erik Lamela may not play again this season.

Lamela has not featured for Spurs since October 25 as first a hip problem and then a family accident involving his brother kept him on the sidelines.

The winger even returned to his former club Roma in January for treatment on his injury but, despite being back for more than a month, a return to action is still not seemingly close.

Pochettino said yesterday Lamela is now “100%” recovering in London and his problem is purely a physical one, rather than anything personal. But the Argentinian was less clear on when Lamela could next play for Tottenham.

“I don’t want to lie to you and give some information that after you use, and you are right to use, but I can’t say one, two weeks, three weeks, one month or maybe next season, I don’t know,” Pochettino said.

“It’s too difficult my position because we are assessing him every day, how he is in the morning, we prepare a plan, sometimes he is involved from the beginning in the warm-up with the team, sometimes he feels pain, we change the plan.

“Now it is day by day and we see. We hope he can be available again as soon as possible as that is our idea but we can’t give any more information.”

Millwall will offer a stern test at White Hart Lane as they look to extend a remarkable run that has already included three Premier League scalps in Bournemouth, Watford and Leicester.

The League One promotion hopefuls are unbeaten in 17 games and have conceded just one goal in 10.

Pochettino admits defeat to Millwall in the FA Cup tomorrow will not only incur the wrath of Tottenham’s fans - but also his wife.

Tottenham are strong favourites, particularly given they are unbeaten at White Hart Lane this season, although they were given a scare in last weekend’s 3-2 victory over Everton, when the visitors scored twice late on.

Pochettino accepts he celebrated prematurely when Dele Alli’s third goal looked to have sealed the win and his wife Karina was quick to point out his mistake.

“I was mad,” Pochettino said. “When we finished the game, I saw my phone and my wife said, ‘Oh, what did you do? You lost your head when Dele scored?’ Never again’, my wife said.

Millwall manager Neil Harris believes his team can take inspiration from Sutton and Lincoln by giving Tottenham a rough ride tomorrow.

The Lions are bidding to beat Spurs at White Hart Lane for the first time in their history. Sutton and Lincoln both reached the fifth round, the first time two non-league teams have together ever gone that far, with Lincoln facing Arsenal today for a place in the semi-finals.

Millwall are also enjoying a fairytale run of their own, having already beaten Leicester, Bournemouth and Watford.

“Can we rattle Tottenham? Yes, there’s going to be a moment in the 90 minutes that affects the competition in a different way,” Harris said.

“We’ve done it three previous rounds. Sutton have done. Lincoln are still doing it. We’ve got to take inspiration from that and make sure it’s us that cause an upset or has a moment during the game that can maybe lead us to victory.”