Toby Alderweireld has been warned by Roberto Martínez that his place in the Belgium side at the World Cup will be under threat if he remains out of favour at Tottenham Hotspur.

Alderweireld has played only two games for Tottenham since returning from a hamstring injury last month and the centre-back, who will have a year left on his contract at the end of the season, looked rusty despite playing 90 minutes in Belgium’s victory against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

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The 29-year-old has not started for his club since the 2-2 draw with Rochdale in the FA Cup on 18 February and Martínez admitted that Alderweireld does not have long to regain his sharpness.

“Every player needs to get a really good period of football now,” the Belgium manager said. “Seven weeks is not a lot of time. Certain players that play a lot of minutes, the playing time now is not essential. But other players who have not played that much, and Toby can be one of those – it is important.

“But what you see with Toby is that urgency and the defensive, natural habit of intercepting any threat around him. I saw him really sharp during the camp and [against Saudi Arabia] it was great to see that he was really strong in the last 15 minutes physically. And he lasted 90 minutes in a really good way.”

Alderweireld featured in a back three with Jan Vertonghen, his Spurs team-mate, and Vincent Kompany, who insisted that he would not let a long history of injury problems get the better of him. Kompany played the first 45 minutes against Saudi Arabia and the Manchester City defender said that he felt strong before the first leg of his team’s Champions League quarter-final at Liverpool on Wednesday.

“It’s a question I literally have to answer every single day of my life but I carry on,” Kompany said. “I take great enjoyment out of always coming back and fighting my way back. I feel good. I’m enjoying my football and I’m enjoying playing with this team.”

Kompany is anticipating a tough period for Pep Guardiola’s side, who lost 4-3 at Anfield in January. They travel to Everton on Saturday and can wrap up the Premier League title when they face Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium on 7 April, three days before hosting the second leg of their Champions League tie against Liverpool.

“We know that as much as we’ve been incredible this season that these games are against teams like United who will want to hurt us,” he said. “Liverpool has been the toughest game so far for us this season. So go steady and we’ll get there and prepare well and be in the best condition to have a good result.

“Everyone can see what Liverpool are about. They are a very hard-working team, they have goal scoring threats all over the pitch, not just the main guys. They have strengthened defensively. They are definitely further along as a team than they were earlier in the season and you can see it in the way they’ve been playing recently. But that’s what we enjoy to play against. There’s a lot to say about our team as well.”