Yahoo Movies Dele Alli for England? Tottenham boss Ryan Mason praises ‘excellent’ No10 display in front of Gareth Southgate
Tottenham boosted their hopes of Europa League football for next season with a 2-0 win over Wolves as Ryan Mason heaped praise on Dele Alli for an "excellent" performance.
Goals from Harry Kane and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg earned Spurs a routine victory over a disappointing Wolves side, keeping Mason's men in the hunt for a Premier League top-six finish.
Dele has had a difficult season, having been frozen out under previous manager Jose Mourinho and coming close to a January exit, with a place in England's Euro 2020 squad looking remote.
But Mason, a former team-mate of Dele, has restored the 25-year-old to the starting line-up and it paid dividends against Wolves as he put in his best performance of the season in front of watching England boss Gareth Southgate.
"I can't speak in terms of what Gareth is thinking. I don't know on that, but for me Dele was excellent," Mason said.
"I don't really like singling out players but it's hard not to because I'm sure everyone felt it. He ran, he competed, he pressed, he created opportunities.
"I'm sure he's disappointed not to get a goal himself. It was an excellent number 10 performance, I'm really, really pleased."
Spurs now have their top-six fate in their own hands, but Mason says that does not change the dynamic ahead of the Aston Villa match on Wednesday and Sunday's final game of the campaign at Leicester.
"Our thinking all along was the next game," he said. "That will be the case. I am going to enjoy the next 30 minutes because our performance deserves that.
"Our attention has to be on Wednesday, it's another big game for the club, we know that. We knew today was a big game.
"Three wins in four in the Premier League so it is nice to get a good feeling going into a crucial seven days now.
"We needed to see a win first and foremost but then also with that, how you win is important.
"It's important to get a certain feeling. I thought we were outstanding. We could have and probably should have scored more. We attacked the game, dominated it and and controlled it.
"We also defended well when we needed to so it was a very pleasing performance."
Additional reporting by PA.
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