Team news: Dele out for Tottenham ahead of North London Derby

The good news keeps coming for Tottenham Hotspur as they prepare to play their third match in seven days this coming Sunday in the North London Derby. In his press conference, the first since the disastrous 0-0 draw against Bournemouth on Thursday, Spurs manager Jose Mourinho has ruled out Dele Alli from participation in the derby with a minor hamstring injury.

There were no other injuries apart from the ones who were already ruled out for the Bournemouth match — Japhet Tanganga and Juan Foyth are also ruled out and are unlikely to return before the end of the season.

Mourinho also spoke out about Tanguy Ndombele, a halftime substitute for Giovani Lo Celso and one of the brightest sparks in an otherwise dark match. While Tanguy was pretty clearly one of Spurs’ best players on the day, Mourinho strangely seemed to downplay his performance.

“I had Giovani with a problem, he was kicked in the ankle. He was not feeling comfortable. He was also coming from 90 minutes very hard against Everton.

“The feeling was we are going to have the ball, going to have space to play, not space to penetrate but space to play, to have the ball and with the midfield players I had on the bench: Skipp, Gedson, the kid Harvey [White], Tanguy I felt he was the one with that talent to move the ball.

“I think he was the same level as the team, not better and not worse.”

Attention now turns, perhaps reluctantly, to the North London Derby on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Tottenham’s momentum is virtually nil, with only five shots on target in their last three matches, combined. Arsenal, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last five matches and are now a point above Spurs in the table heading into Sunday’s match.

The North London Derby will kick off at 11:30 a.m. ET (4:30 p.m. BST) this Sunday. It will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network in the US, and Sky Sports in the UK.