Tottenham Given Injury Boost with Dele Alli Available
With a very early afternoon game tomorrow against Arsenal, Tottenham have been given an injury boost regarding Dele Alli’s availability.
Dele Alli who suffered a knock on his ankle prior to kick-off against Swansea City was able to play the entire game in Tottenham’s 2-1 win on February 28, but afterwards was spotted with a heavy limp. Obviously it meant that Alli wasn’t going to be fully healthy when Tottenham traveled to Upton Park to face West Ham United.
It was a simple decision to let Dele Alli rest for the first 60 minutes after only being given two days to recover following their victory over Swansea. Once the game reached the final 30 minutes, Alli was brought onto the pitch and he immediately helped spark Tottenham’s second half performance against a good West Ham side, while showing no effects of an ankle injury anymore.
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This means that he should now be considered fully healthy in time for Saturday’s north London derby against Arsenal. A game in which the stakes couldn’t even be more higher for both clubs. A chance at first place for Tottenham and an opportunity for Arsenal to catch up to Spurs.
Having Dele Alli available for this game is imperative to help Tottenham not only win, but to get back on track after a minor blip on the season with another loss; just Spurs fourth in the Premier League this season. And according to Mauricio Pochettino everything looks good.
“Dele is okay, we need to assess him as well,” said Pochettino speaking to Tottenham’s official site. “But we are happy with the way he played in the last 30 minutes against West Ham and he’s okay now.”
Where the 19-year-old will play in Mauricio Pochettino’s starting eleven will be interesting to say the least as Mousa Dembélé figures to be healthy too if he is able to make it out of Tottenham’s final training session today without any problems.
“Today is the last training session and if he [Mousa Dembélé] is okay, maybe he’s available for tomorrow.” Mauricio Pochettino added.
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If Dembélé is healthy, the Belgian midfielder figures to be starting alongside Eric Dier so that Dele Alli can return up top sitting behind Harry Kane.
Of course this will move Christian Eriksen outside into the team’s left midfielder once more. But with this game being one of Tottenham’s season-defining matches, it’s crucial for Mauricio Pochettino to select his best lineup and go for broke regardless of what happens afterwards.
Seeing as how Spurs will have five days off before their next match on March 10, which will be a Europa League showdown against Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion in the round of 16. Not to mention facing Aston Villa on March 13 who shouldn’t pose much of a threat at all. Giving the team more time to recover.
Next: Who Will Start for Spurs Against Arsenal
In essence, whoever is available to play against Arsenal should be named in the 18-man matchday squad and given some time to play. If Mousa Dembélé isn’t fully healthy but can at least play for 30 minutes, just like Dele Alli did against West Ham, then that’s better than nothing.
It’ll be doubtful that Pochettino would name a strong starting eleven against Dortmund in the first leg on the road next week on Thursday. So it makes sense to see Alli, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Dembélé all playing to give Tottenham a better chance at winning and creating a bigger gap to distance themselves from the Gunners with nine more games remaining once this weekend’s fixtures are finished.