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Tottenham Hotspur fans who woke up early to watch the North London Derby and saw the starting lineups were probably very confused as to why Dele Alli was not listed. In fact, not only was Alli not in the starting XI, but he wasn’t even in the matchday 18. Now, reports are coming through Spurs’ social media channels that Dele has picked up a knee injury and is out for a while.
Mauricio on @Dele_Alli: "Bad luck yesterday in the training session, he twisted his knee. We need to assess him today and tomorrow." pic.twitter.com/T8dj0Zg3ru
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 6, 2016
"He'll be out for a few weeks. We hope it's not a big issue. It's bad luck he was in the team he's an important player but that's football." pic.twitter.com/pXIGmqV98y
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 6, 2016
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
This is just terrible luck for Tottenham, and both Dele and Erik Lamela being out is probably what necessitated Tottenham starting in a three-at-the-back formation against Arsenal today.
Spurs have definitely not had the same kind of luck on the injury front that they had last season. While last year they stayed remarkably healthy, this year they’ve already had to work through injuries to Harry Kane, Mousa Dembele, Toby Alderweireld, Erik Lamela, and now Dele.
Hopefully the knee injury isn’t serious, but if it’s anything like Toby’s, we might not see Dele for a while.