Tottenham have made a solid start to the Premier League season, and so the last thing that Mauricio Pochettino would have wanted was to suffer any injury problems.
Unfortunately for the Argentine tactician, that’s exactly what he has on his hands as Dele Alli has withdrawn from the England squad with a muscle strain, as per the tweet below.
The 22-year-old has been an ever-present thus far, playing 350 minutes of football while scoring in the win over Newcastle United at the start of the campaign.
In turn, given his importance to the team, it will be a blow for Spurs if he is now forced to miss any action, as he’ll undoubtedly undergo further scans and tests when he returns to north London to determine the extent of the problem.
Particularly with the clash against Liverpool fast approaching on Saturday in the early kick-off, it doesn’t give Alli a great deal of time to recover and prove his fitness.
With that in mind, the Reds could be handed a boost if their rivals are forced to go without their influential midfield star.
Further, Tottenham kick-start their Champions League campaign next week against Inter, and so Alli will also be desperate to be available for selection for that too.
In turn, time will tell if the muscle strain is serious enough to keep him sidelined or if it’s simply a precautionary move to avoid aggravating the problem ahead of the weekend with the friendly against Switzerland this week.
An update ahead of today’s training session: @dele_official has withdrawn from the squad due to a minor muscle strain picked up on Saturday.
He’ll return to @SpursOfficial for further treatment, with no further additions to the #ThreeLions squad planned. pic.twitter.com/JSs0at5rzr
— England (@England) September 10, 2018