Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has praised the form of Erik Lamela this campaign and believes the Argentine is finally leaving up to the investment made for his services. The attacker has been plagued by injuries and fitness concerns, which have hampered his Spurs career, but he has largely impressed since the current season started.

Lamela recently scored his sixth goal of the campaign during the recent 3-2 away win over Wolverhampton Wanderers and speaking after the game, Pochettino highlighted that the Argentine has become more mature in terms of his performances on the field, he said: “Yes he’s more mature now. Of course, always you expect when you make this type of investment that the player starts to perform in the way you expect. Of course it was tough for him from the day he arrived here. This is his sixth season and it was tough for him from the beginning, but now I think after 12 games he’s scored eight goals.”

Lamela started the season with games from the substitutes’ “bench but he has slowly won over the manager after scoring vital goals against“ the likes of Barcelona and Liverpool. Owing to the current form, he “has also been called up “to the national team after a two-year absence and hopefully he can replicate a similar kind of performance to become a regular under Lionel Scaloni.

Meanwhile, Spurs had to dig deep to secure their recent victory over Wolves despite holding a comfortable 3-0 advantage at one stage. The result has ensured them of the fourth spot in the standings ahead of arch-rivals Arsenal and they can potentially maintain the position entering into the international break, should they overcome Crystal Palace on the road. Prior to that, they have a Champions League game against PSV Eindhoven and the fixture is a must-win, if they are to harbour any hopes of making the knockout phase of the competition.