Dele Alli's struggles down to Victor Wanyama's absence

Victor Wanyama

Friday Dec 01, 2017. 09:00

Former Fulham, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Danny Murphy has put Spurs recent woes down the absence of Victor Wanyama.

The North London club have failed to register a win in their last three English Premier League encounters, with defeat away to Arsenal and Leicester City serving as a massive blow to their title ambitions.

Kenya international midfielder, Wanyama, hasn't featured for the club since a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea back in August with a knee injury keeping him out of action for longer than initially expected.

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The 26-year-old is an integral member of the Spurs squad and Murphy believes that Dele Alli's failure to keep up his rip-roaring form is down to the missing midfield link of Wanyama and Mousa Dembele.

“I would look at a couple of aspects; one is the stadium change,” Murphy told BBC Radio Five Live.

“There is no denying that has had an effect, and we all know that. I think the other thing is that the foundation of that side - Dembele and Wanyama sitting in from of the back three or back four, depending on how the played - they’ve hardly had them two together, and we wonder why Dele Alli isn’t quite playing the same.

“Anyone playing ahead of Dembele and Wanyama is going to be able to get more of the ball and use his energy to that way - it isn’t the same when those two don’t play, and I think that’s been a big problem," he concluded.