Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino 'optimistic' over Dele Alli's fitness for Man City second leg
But the Spurs boss is not confident the midfielder will be available for Saturday's game against Huddersfield, live on Sky Sports Premier League from 11.30am
Friday 12 April 2019 15:38, UK
Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli is a major doubt for Saturday’s game against Huddersfield but Mauricio Pochettino is "optimistic" he will be fit for the Champions League match at Manchester City.
Alli fractured his left hand in Tuesday's quarter-final first leg win over City and was substituted off in the second half.
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The 22-year-old now faces a late fitness test for this weekend's home game against Huddersfield with Pochettino admitting the second leg at the Etihad is a more realistic target for his return.
He said: "We need to assess him Friday afternoon and on Saturday, and take the decision.
"To be honest, I'm not optimistic. He's broken his hand in two parts and it's so painful and today we need to see how he'll deal with this situation.
"I'm not too optimistic for Saturday but I'm more optimistic for him to be available for the second leg against Manchester City, but we'll see and we'll take the best decision for everyone."
With injuries to Alli and Harry Kane, the Argentine will have to make changes to the starting XI that beat City in midweek.
But with the return leg on Wednesday, Pochettino admits he may be forced to rotate against an already-relegated Huddersfield.
"It's not to rest players but it's taking the best decisions," he said. "After a great victory against Manchester City the massive risk is how we're going to approach the game on Saturday.
"We have a lot of players that played 90 minutes that maybe aren't in the condition to play for different reasons and we need to be sure on Saturday we have players on the pitch that have full energy.
"We have a strong squad but rather than rest on Saturday maybe it's about providing the team with good energy and fresh legs to be sure that we can approach the game in the best condition.
"It's not about resting players for Manchester City, but it's because we believe some players are not in the best condition to play."
