Dele Alli could be on the cusp of being back in favour under Jose Mourinho at Tottenham Hotspur.
It has been a frustrating season for the attacking midfielder at Spurs so far.
Withdrawn at half-time in the 1-0 loss against Everton on the opening weekend of the new campaign, opportunities have been limited for England international ever since.
Four of his six appearances this season have come in the Europa League, although he was once against substituted at half-time in a 1-0 loss at Royal Antwerp and then didn't get onto the pitch against Ludogorets a week later.
But things have been looking bleak for Alli in domestic action.
Alli 's last Premier League appearance was as a second-half substitute in the 6-1 thrashing of Manchester United at Old Trafford before the October international break.
In fact, the 24-year-old has not even made the Premier League matchday squad for each of Tottenham's last five games.
However, that run almost ended at the weekend.
Football.london were in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the 2-0 win over Man City and can reveal that Alli was with the first-team squad as the 19th man.
This is rather unusual as when the midfielder has been left out of the squads this season, he's been at home.
In addition, the 19th man is usually a role normally given to a young player as back-up in case of injury to someone in the 18-man matchday squad, so this could perhaps be a clue that Mourinho is planning to perform a u-turn.
Mourinho has questioned Alli's work ethic in the past, but during the international break he took to social media and shared a rather cryptic four-word message.
"Make improvements, not excuses," he wrote on Instagram.
Have those improvements already been spotted by Mourinho which led to his decision to include Alli in his plans for the Man City game?
