Dele Alli is still waiting to start his first game for Everton despite departing Tottenham for Merseyside at the end of the January transfer window. Struggling for form in north London in the past few seasons, Spurs elected to part with the 26-year-old on a permanent basis as Antonio Conte made some big changes to his squad.
Coming off the bench early at Newcastle in February to play 65 minutes on his debut, Alli has since had to settle for a bit-part role at Goodison Park. An unused substitute for a four-game period in March and April, the ex-Spurs man has also failed to come on in Everton's last two league games.
The player still has time to add to his nine appearances for the Toffees, however, with the Merseyside club having three huge games left in the 2021/22 campaign as they look to beat the drop and remain in the Premier League. Focus is very much on survival at present, with Everton boss Frank Lampard revealing that he has spoken to Alli about why he isn't in the team at present and also about his future beyond the summer.
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“I have had those discussions with him, he’ll be very clear as to where I am and at the moment I’m much more concerned about the collective getting over the line as a group," he explained, as reported by Liverpool Echo. "If Dele plays his part in these three games then great and he steps up as he’s come on at times and done good things for us.
"It’s an area of the squad where we have other players who have been playing, that’s just the reality of the situation. He needs to just keep training hard and stay really well focused and fight for the opportunity.”
With home games against Brentford and Crystal Palace to come for Everton over the next week, the Toffees end the season with an away trip to Arsenal. A game which looks set to have a lot riding on it, with the Gunners and Tottenham fighting it out for the final Champions League spot, Spurs fans would love nothing more than to see Alli play his part in his new club leaving the Emirates with points in the bag in order to hopefully see Lilywhites pip their rivals to a place in Europe's premier competition in the process.
