Mauricio Pochettino admits Dele Alli wasn't happy about being on the bench

London, Dec 15: Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has dismissed questions over an alleged rift with attacker Dele Alli after some of the reports claimed that the pair had a heated argument following Alli being dropped from Tottenham's starting line-up for Wednesday's 2-0 win over Brighton.

Alli was handed a place on the bench in the game and in his place, after an absence of over nine months, forgotten Spurs star Erik Lamela made the cut to start the game. Alli was only brought on as a sub in the 74th minute for Lamela.

Alli was last benched by manager Pochettino in their 3-2 win over West Ham on November 19, 2016, and since then the former MK Dons midfielder started each and every game for the North Londoners when was fit.

But after being demoted to the bench, some reports claimed that the Englishman has not looked at the decision very well and looked far from happy when he came on for Erik Lamela.

Later Pochettino agreed that he felt such reaction as such from the 21-year-old, however, claimed that that was very normal and it has not caused any problem in between them.

"No one is happy, the young ones or the senior players. The more experienced, the most important with the massive salary and the people who have a smaller salary, that is football, or not? Yes or no? Sure he's not happy, but like another player like Trippier, Davies and everyone on the bench. They all wanted to play," he said.

"How did Moussa Dembele react? How did a player at Manchester United or Arsenal react, or Liverpool when they are on the bench? Come on.

"Dele Alli was on the bench and then played 20 minutes. He’s such an important player for us. How would another player react when they’re on the bench? Sure they’re not happy."

After their win over Brighton, Spurs have jumped back into the top four but will face a difficult task in the weekend as they will face high flying city at Etihad who are yet to lose a match after 16 games.