Former Tottenham Hotspur defender, Pascal Chimbonda, has issued a stark warning to Tottenham’s Dele Alli, as players return to their clubs after international duty – something the midfielder missed out on after deselection by Gareth Southgate.

Speaking to Gambling.com, Chimbonda said that if Alli has any chance of returning to the England fold, he must seriously up his game.

"At the moment, it's really hard to see how Dele Alli gets back into the England set-up.

"He's got to hit some form very soon because there aren't too many international opportunities between now and next summer's tournament.

"He's going to have to force his way into Gareth Southgate's plans through his club form, but it's difficult to see how he's going to do that because it's just not happening for him at the moment."

Chimbonda also said it will be twice as hard for Alli to win back Southgate's approval, considering how well other young, English midfielders are performing.

With hot competition for places, it doesn't look good for the out-of-favour Spurs man:

"At the moment, England have enough people firing, they're scoring lots of goals and clicking well. Southgate has no reason to disrupt that flow, so I fear for Alli, I think he'll miss out.

"But you never know, sometimes all it takes is one goal, one moment of magic to rejuvenate a player's season, and injuries could yet force Southgate to reconsider Alli.

"We'll just have to wait and see, but the onus is on him to rediscover his form."

Although his International form can't be questioned, like Dele Alli, Harry Kane has also been inconsistent for Spurs this season and Chimbonda blames the players around him.

"It all simply boils down to confidence. When we've seen Kane in a Spurs shirt this season, he hasn't looked at his best, but yet when he's on England duty he's on top of his game.

"I don't think it's a lack of confidence in himself when he's playing for Spurs, it could be a lack of confidence in the players around him at club level.

"When he's playing for England he has players around him like Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho and you can tell he's on the same wavelength as them.

"These guys are creating chance after chance for him on international duty and that is fueling his confidence. He's not quite getting that from his Spurs team-mates so far this season."

https://www.gambling.com/news/how-harry-kane-s-club-form-compares-to-his-england-record-2146300 .