‘Dele we are not sure. It’s not clear’: Mauricio Pochettino pours doubt over Alli’s fitness ahead of clash with Man City but hails Lucas Moura for ‘stepping up’ with wonderful hat-trick
- Mauricio Pochettino is still unsure if Dele Alli will be fit for Manchester City clash
- The 23-year-old broke his hand in Tottenham’s first-leg victory on Tuesday night
- Pochettino said: ‘We’re not sure. It’s still not clear. We’ll have to assess next week’
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has hinted Dele Alli could miss their Champions League quarter-final second leg at Manchester City.
The 23-year-old broke his hand in Tuesday’s first-leg victory over City and played no part against Huddersfield on Saturday.
Tottenham were initially hopeful that Alli could still play despite his injury with medics set to explore ways of ensuring his availability for the return leg at the Etihad.
Mauricio Pochettino has hinted Dele Alli could miss Champions League clash at Man City
However, Pochettino has admitted the midfielder could still miss out. ‘We are not sure on Dele,’ he said after their 4-0 drubbing of Huddersfield.
‘It is still not clear. We will have to assess next week. It’s the same with Harry Winks. He felt his groin again in training yesterday so we will have to see.’
Pochettino will be without his top goalscorer Harry Kane for the rest of the season but Lucas Moura appears ready to step into his shoes after his fabulous display on Saturday.
The Tottenham boss admitted it is still not clear if Alli will be able to play on Wednesday
The Brazilian scored his first hat-trick in European football with Victor Wanyama grabbing the other as Tottenham put basement boys Huddersfield to the sword.
Spurs boss Pochettino heaped praise on Moura after game, saying: ‘Today we saw him step up when there was no Kane or Alli.
‘I’m very happy, the performance was professional and I am very pleased. It was a difficult game with our week. It was tough to prepare but we were focused and the with the race for the top four it was important to get the three points.’
Lucas Moura scored a stunning hat-trick as Tottenham thumped Huddersfield 4-0 on Saturday
Pochettino heaped praise on the Brazilian for stepping up in Harry Kane’s absence
Sportsmail columnist Jamie Redknapp however believes the forward could still be left out of Wednesday’s clash despite his man-of-the-match performance.
‘Absolutely you can still leave him out,’ Redknapp told Sky Sports.
‘You really can. You’re not holding him back, you’re not dropping him on Wednesday, you’re saying to him, I’ve got a specialised situation where with 20 minutes to go I might need to unleash you and I don’t know but he looks like the sort of guy who would buy into that.’
Jamie Redknapp (R) believes Spurs can still leave out Lucas on Wednesday despite his hat-trick