PL hits and misses: Spineless Everton need Dele spark

Has Dele earned his first Everton start?

Frank Lampard waited another 14 minutes after Harry Kane had scored Tottenham's fifth before he turned to Tottenham's one-time favourite.

Dele Alli was the poster boy of the cherished team Mauricio Pochettino built, but the feeling is that professional life stifled his joy of playing. It is the only way of explaining how he has ended up at Everton.

He enjoyed a meteoric rise under Pochettino having arrived as a precocious 19-year-old in the summer of 2015 but he only scored nine times in Tottenham's new stadium before his departure for an initial free transfer at the end of January.

That he failed to fulfil his rich talent in the white of Tottenham is a source of frustration and regret for the majority of those who filled the stands on Monday night, but he must show his hunger to prove he belongs at the highest level again.

Tottenham's running stats have shot up since Antonio Conte's arrival but it is a curiosity that Alli didn't therefore thrive under the Italian, given how he excelled in this category among his peers at MK Dons and notably under Pochettino, who recognised him as the fittest member of his squad.

Lampard resisted calls for a first start but there were flashes of his craft in a cameo which eventually came 24 minutes into the second half. By then, the damage had been done long before. This is a poor Everton side he has landed in midway through a season.

"We've seen a real uplift and unification at Goodison and we've now got two home games that will hopefully make things seem more positive," Lampard said after this chastening loss, the heaviest of his managerial career.

"It's a mentality issue if you concede two or three in the first half, irrespective of where you