Jose Mourinho’s cagey response on Dele Alli has being dropped from Tottenham XI

Jose Mourinho issued a cagey response when he was asked about his reason for dropping Dele Alli from the Tottenham starting XI against Chelsea.

The Englishman has not missed a Premier League game for the north London side since the Portuguese boss arrived in November.

With five goals and two assists under Mourinho, he has started every game up to this point.

But the Spurs manager was not interested in explaining his thinking.

When asked about Alli’s absence on BT Sport, he said: “I am not sure if you ask every manager in the Premier League when a player is left out.

“For other managers it looks like it is normal to leave players out and when I do it it is always a big story.”

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The Englishman hit headlines earlier in the week when he threw a massive tantrum after being pulled off the pitch.

Alli was brought off a minute after Timo Werner grabbed the Champions League first-leg win from the penalty spot.

And Mourinho explained the strop on Thursday.

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“I think he was angry with his performance, not with me,” he said.

“I think he understands why I took him off and our performance improved.”

Spurs’ visit to Stamford Bridge was a trip down memory lane for the Portuguese boss.

Mourinho helped the Blues to three Premier League titles over two stints in west London.

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But he said there would be no flashbacks for him.

“No, not special, one more game,” Mourinho replied bluntly.

“Because I’m a professional, as I’ve said every time I played my previous clubs, I’ll belong 200 per cent to my club. That’s it.

“The only different thing will be at the end of the game I can walk from the stadium to my house but even that I won’t take an advantage of because I’ll go back from the stadium with my players. I won’t use that advantage.”

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