Mauricio on Dele's return

Mauricio Pochettino is delighted to have Dele Alli back in the mix - but says he will be 'careful' with the midfielder on his return from injury.

Dele is training with the squad again and available for Monday’s huge clash against City after being sidelined by a hamstring problem since our Carabao Cup win against Watford on 26 September. That was a big night for Dele - back home at MK Dons, captain on the night and he responded with a late equaliser from the penalty spot and then struck the winning penalty in the shoot-out.

He’s missed five games since then having also been laid low by injury sustained on England duty in early September. In all, he’s played just one of our last nine matches in all competitions.

“The recovery of a player is always good news,” Mauricio told Spurs TV after training on Friday.

“We have to be careful with Dele because he was re-injured after Watford (Carabao Cup). Of course he’s okay, he’s training, but we’ll see what happens in the next few days.

“We are happy that he’s started (training) today with the group and we hope he’s available for Monday but I’m not sure if we are going to put him in the squad or not.

“Dele is Dele, we all know he’s an important player for us but when he’s injured, we cannot complain because we have the squad. For me, the most important thing is the collective and it’s always important to have everyone available.”