Tottenham left-back Danny Rose believes he has "dodged a bullet" by only being ruled out for a relatively short amount of time with a knee injury which he initially suspected was serious.
Rose suffered the injury during Spurs' 0-0 draw at Sunderland on January 31 and is yet to make his return to the team after seeing a specialist.
But the England international initially felt as though the problem was significantly more serious than it has turned out to be.
And Rose acknowledged that he feels lucky for his spell on the sidelines to have been contained to little longer than a month so far.
He told Sky Sports' Soccer AM: "Initially I thought I would be back fit by now, but I had to see a specialist a couple of weeks ago and he told me it would be three or four weeks before I'm back playing and training.
"I don't normally come off when I am playing, so for me to say I needed to come off I knew it was something serious.
"I have had a knee operation before so I was fearing the worst, but I think I've dodged a bullet.
"It's hard watching the lads. I went to the game last weekend against Stoke and had to leave after 60 minutes because it was too difficult to watch."
Rose spoke about how he almost ended up leaving Spurs before Mauricio Pochettino took over, stating that the Argentine has been pivotal in his rise to prominence both domestically and for England.
"The season before he [Pochettino] came to Spurs I didn't have a great season and there was a lot of talk about me moving on and I looked at that option," Rose said.
"But he came and my agent called me and said your manager wants to see you. I said I'm up north and I'll be down in a few days, he told me to get down and see him now.
"I went down, saw him and he said: 'Do you want to play for England? Well listen to everything I have to say and I will get you there.' He has been true to his word and I am grateful."
