Tottenham Hotspur’s Nigerian-born midfielder, Bamidele Alli is in a race against time to be declared fit and get to see action against Super Eagles defender, Leon Aderemi Balogun this weekend, footballlive.ng can report.
Balogun will eye a return to the mainframe at Brighton Hove Albion, which would put him in line to feature against Spurs, but Alli is still nursing an injury he copped on international duty two weeks ago.
It is now left to be seen if Balogun will have Alli as one of the opponents to contend with, as Spurs boss, Mauricio Pochettino will wait until Friday to make a decision on whether the England dazzler is fit enough to play against Brighton on Saturday.
Alli took part in Tottenham training on Thursday, as he battles to regain full fitness from the knock that forced him to withdraw from the England squad with a hamstring problem earlier this month.
However, despite Spurs’ run of three consecutive defeats, Pochettino said he would take no risks over Alli’s fitness.
Pochettino said: “Still we need to wait to assess whether he will be part of the squad. Maybe we need to wait a few days more to involve him.
“We are never going to put ourselves or our interests in front of taking risks for a player. It’s impossible. We need to feel they are 100 per cent.
“Football is a sport you always assume the risk but if you are conscious of a risk it is impossible to take that decision.”
