LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that playmaker Christian Eriksen is mentally fatigued but said tiredness is not to blame for Tottenham's slump.
Eriksen played 180 minutes in Denmark's two-legged 2018 World Cup playoff against the Republic of Ireland earlier this month, scoring a magnificent hat trick in the second leg to ensure his country's place at the finals. Since then, he has started all four of Spurs' matches without making a significant contribution.
Spurs have been statistically the best team in the Premier League over December and January in the last two seasons but Pochettino has claimed they are running further than ever before on Wembley's big pitch, fuelling suggestions that fatigue is to blame for their haul of just four points from the last five league matches.
And he admitted that Eriksen was feeling the strain, telling a news conference: "A player like Christian Eriksen maybe can be a little bit tired. But it's mental more than physical, because in the last international duty he played two amazing games to try to qualify for the World Cup, and he cannot rest, he cannot stop."
In the four league games this month, Eriksen ran further than any other Spurs player against Crystal Palace, Arsenal and West Brom, and Pochettino added: "Maybe he struggles a little bit but his condition is fantastic because after every game the stats are unbelievable from him. But maybe I can agree that there may be some mental tiredness.
"It's maybe possible. But other players? I think no. Dele Alli wasn't involved in the first three Champions League games and we've rotated different players or managed their fitness. I think that is not the reason today why the team has struggled in the last few games to get a positive result.
"From the beginning of the season Christian is playing, playing, playing, with no time to rest. Maybe it's him and Eric Dier that is playing a lot. Maybe Davinson Sanchez. It's the same group, the players that travel a lot and were involved in nearly all the games.
"Maybe they can feel a little bit tired about competing, because it's not because you run and the effect on your physique. It's your mind as well and then when you're an offensive player you always expend more energy than in other positions because people expect that you will create something, and for that it's an amazing energy that you expend.
"We are trying to provide him and different players more time to rest and recover, with different strategies, and trying to help."
Liverpool left Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah on the bench for Wednesday's win at Stoke, while Manchester City were able to rest David Silva and Leroy Sane for last-gasp victory over Southampton.
There is little prospect, however, of Pochettino resting Eriksen for Saturday's trip to Watford and asked if that ability to rotate is making a difference at the top of the table, he said: "I think you know better than me what happens. That is the clear example.
"We have Saturday now against Watford and then the Champions League, yes we need to rest players. We're going to play against Apoel, we are first in the table and of course it's a great opportunity to rest players that need to rest and to help them for the next period to be fresh."
Fit-again Erik Lamela is the most like-for-like alternative to Eriksen in Pochettino's squad and he made an immediate impact when he replaced the Dane for the final 13 minutes of Tuesday's 2-1 defeat at Leicester City, assisting Harry Kane's goal with his third touch.
But Pochettino played down the prospect of resting Eriksen for Lamela, who had not played for 13 months before Tuesday, at Watford, while the Argentine is ineligible for the final Champions League game against Apoel Nicosia on Wednesday.
"We trust him and believe he can add to the team," Pochettino said of Lamela. "He gives us different options to play, different quality. But it is step-by-step with him, we need to careful. After more than one year not involved, not competing, now it's about slowly building his confidence because competing is completely different to training."