Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Dele Alli’s hamstring injury, suffered in a dramatic win against Fulham, “doesn’t look great”.
The Argentine manager explained that Lucas Moura is likely to replace Alli for Tottenham.
England international Alli is expected to be out for a couple of weeks after pulling up short at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon in Spurs’ 2-1 win against Fulham.
Alli scored the equaliser for Tottenham, a header, in the 51st-minute after Pochettino’s side had gone into half-time losing thanks to an own goal from Fernando Llorente.
Alli to be assessed
The full extent of Alli’s injury isn’t yet known but it’s a serious issue for Pochettino. Harry Kane is already out for two months while Heung Min Son is away on international duty and Moussa Sissoko is also unavailable.
“We need to assess him in the next few days,” Pochettino admitted. "It’s a matter that we need to be careful with. It doesn’t look great.
“When he put his hands on his hamstring, yes it didn’t look great. It’s a situation where you feel the ‘boom’ [feeling of hamstring going]. It’s not great.”
With Alli out as well as the others, Pochettino’s small squad is becoming thinner and thinner. Spurs play Chelsea soon and want to secure a place in the EFL Cup final by winning that game. Their chances are threatened by these absentees, though.
Pochettino: Moura could play vs Chelsea
“I hope that Lucas Moura is going to be back," Pochettino explained.
“He was training today. We didn’t want to take a risk with him [by playing him against Fulham]. He wasn’t 100%.
“We are going to have a look at Moura and maybe he will start from the beginning [against Chelsea].”
Spurs were in danger of collapsing with a defeat at Fulham today. With the new stadium causing issues and Kane, Son, Alli and Sissoko now unavailable, a loss or draw would have spelt trouble. But Harry Winks scored in the 93rd minute to keep the levels of belief high and keep Spurs away from the battle for top four.