Southgate reveals reason why Alli didn’t play for England and it’s bad news for Tottenham
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Gareth Southgate insisted that Dele Alli remains an important player for England, despite not selecting him for either of the two friendly games over the past week.
That’s bad enough for the Tottenham star but what the England manager said was even more worrying for Tottenham fans.
“He’s very important to us,” Southgate said, as quoted in the Independent.
“In training he’s not been able to finish all of the sessions, with the little problem he’s had.
“We wanted to get Adam [Lallana] in, and give Lewis [Cook] some time as well, and then losing John, I didn’t want to make any more changes. But of course Dele always wants to play, and he’ll be disappointed, of course.”
It doesn’t sound too serious, but the last thing that Mauricio Pochettino needs ahead of the huge Chelsea game on Sunday is any more injury problems.
Victor Wanyama left his international training camp early with news that he’s being followed around by a club doctor who checks on him after every session and game.
Harry Kane is still out injured with no definite time frame for his return.
It means that Pochettino needs Alli to be firing on all cylinders and it doesn’t sound like that is the case.
We should find out more about his issue in the pre-match press conference as the Premier League finally gets back to action after what’s seemed like a long international break.
And the next few weeks will be crucial as the top four spots in the Premier League will be decided.
For Chelsea it’s a must-win on Sunday and they’ll be hoping that Alli isn’t fit to start. Tottenham fans will be praying for the opposite.
In other Tottenham news, Tottenham fans react to Alderweireld Twitter message after he plays 90 minutes for Belgium
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