Pochettino reacts to Gareth Southgate’s comments about Dele Alli not finishing training

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Dele Alli was a bit-part figure for Spurs during the international break.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has told Football.London that he is happy with Dele Alli’s fitness amid concerns from England boss Gareth Southgate.

The international break is set to come to an end, and that means Tottenham Hotspur will be back in Premier League action this weekend as they travel to take on London rivals Chelsea.

Many of Tottenham’s players were in international action around the world, but playmaker Dele Alli endured a frustrating time away with England.

Alli, 21, played just 22 minutes in the 1-0 win over the Netherlands on Friday night as he started on the bench, and didn’t even come on as a substitute against Italy on Tuesday night.

That has sparked questions over Alli’s role in the England side ahead of the World Cup, despite the fact that he has hit 10 goals and 13 assists for Tottenham this season.

After the 1-1 draw with Italy, England manager Gareth Southgate told The Independent that Alli was still a very important part of the England side, but he hadn’t been finishing training recently, meaning he wasn’t used excessively.

Alli is now in contention to play for Spurs against Chelsea, and Spurs boss Pochettino has told Football.London that he can’t give a clear opinion on Southgate’s comments as he didn’t see Alli during the international break.

Pochettino did though add that he thinks Alli was fit and fresh in training with Spurs today, and doesn’t see an issue with the midfield ahead of the game against Chelsea.

“I can not give an opinion about a context when I wasn’t there,” said Pochettino. “The national team have a context and here at Tottenham we have a context, I wasn’t there so I don’t know and I can only talk for myself what we are doing here, how he is in Tottenham and try to help him to achieve what he wants.”

“I don’t know, I wasn’t in the training sessions with the national team. For us today he was very good, he was fresh, he was fit and I am happy with the way he showed his fitness and I think it’s normal day’s training with the rest of the group,” he added.