Rather than a sophomore slump Dele Alli has managed to improve on a stellar first season with Tottenham according to teammate Eric Dier.

Alli has scored 20 goals in all competitions this season, having managed 11 last term, and he was the catalyst for this weekend’s 4-0 win over Watford with a stunning opener.

Spurs sit second in the table, seven points behind Chelsea, and have now won six straight in the league despite the injury-enforced absence of Harry Kane.

Dier is another to have stepped up, with a couple of key goals in recent weeks, including one against the Hornets, but he was quick to heap praise on Alli for his performances.

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“It was lucky, wasn’t it? I wouldn’t call it magic but it was alright! No, seriously, we needed a goal to get us off the mark (against Watford) and to be fair it was a great strike from Dele Alli,” said Dier.

“Dele’s doing really well this season, he’s come on leaps and bounds from the last campaign which is extremely impressive considering the season he had last year so I’m really happy for him to get another goal.

“I would have liked to have scored more goals this season so to get two in three games is very nice and I’m very happy with it.

“It was great to get the second goal so quickly after we scored the first and from then on we were quite comfortable and we just needed to keep playing in the same way.

“We didn’t start very well and that was disappointing. We need to start well against these teams and not give them any confidence, nothing they can build on, so we were disappointed that we didn’t start well.

“I think we were a bit sloppy to begin with but from then on, from when Dele scored onwards, we were very comfortable and we seemed to be enjoying playing.”

Manchester United midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan might be best known for his ability to create goals but the Armenian is relishing the chance to get his name on the scoresheet as well this season.

The 28-year-old scored United’s second goal just 47 seconds after half-time as his side thumped relegation strugglers Sunderland 3-0 this weekend, bringing his tally for the season to four.

The win returned United to fifth and reduced the gap behind fourth-placed city rivals Manchester City to four points.

And after a slow start in which Jose Mourinho was reluctant to play him following a summer move from Borussia Dortmund, Mkhitaryan is thrilled at the way he is performing in front of goal for United.

(OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images)

“I am always happy to score, not only to score but also to assist; it doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

“I am always working and I want to score as many goals as I can. Scoring goals is always enjoyable.

“It was a very important game and an important win after two draws.

“We have done everything to win. We knew it would not be easy but it was most important that we played well and we won 3-0.

“I think it was very important to score the second goal because the game was not over and then they had a little bit of control in the second half but, thanks to my team-mates, they could help me to score.”

Runaway leaders Chelsea have attracted widespread praise for their ruthless efficiency in establishing themselves at the top of the Premier League.

And boss Antonio Conte has been quick to praise the character of his Blues players, who have bounced back from a surprise defeat to Crystal Palace with wins over Manchester City and Bournemouth.

Chelsea have a seven-point cushion at the top of the league, despite nearest challengers Tottenham Hotspur winning six games on the spin.

Conte’s side take on Manchester United on Sunday, while Spurs host Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on Saturday afternoon.

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And the Italian believes his side’s resolve is one of their major plus points in a campaign to remember so far.

“We have shown great character all season and great desire and will to fight for the title,” said Conte.

“We started this season and nobody thought Chelsea could fight for the title. Instead, we found the right motivation together.

“Probably we can find the same situation this week, because Tottenham play at home against Bournemouth, but in England easy games don’t exist.

“We have to think game by game and we know our schedule is not easy, but we want to play game by game and we will now prepare in the right way for United.

“I think we are having a good season, but we want it to become a great season.”

Pep Guardiola has praised Sergio Aguero for evolving his all-round game and battling his way back to become a vital cog in the Catalan coach’s Manchester City vision.

Earlier this season, Aguero’s face seemingly didn’t fit under Guardiola, and despite the 136 goals the striker had previously scored in five years at the Etihad Stadium, the 28-year-old was dropped for Brazilian starlet Gabriel Jesus at the turn of the year.

However, with Jesus sidelined, Argentine ace Aguero has fully regained City’s leading role up top and his goal in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Hull City was his tenth in as many games.

He has notched 28 times this term and is on course to better his best-ever total of 32 that he achieved for City in their 2014-15 Premier League title-winning campaign.

Guardiola is suitably impressed.

“He’s more involved in the game. He’s not just in the box scoring goals,” said the Etihad chief.

“He’s involved in our process. When I was talking about (Aguero’s goal against Hull), for everybody to be involved; it was for that.

“Not just for the strikers to be there – for the ball to arrive and score a goal.

“He’s arrived in our process. He’s touching and involving.

“He comes and gets out for the central defenders, spreads out for the positions he normally leaves, and makes the actions, and I like to see that.”

Jason Puncheon has vowed to always represent Crystal Palace with pride and passion after being handed the captain’s armband by Sam Allardyce.

Palace are hovering above the Premier League relegation places and face a tough run in as they battle for survival.

Allardyce made Puncheon captain several weeks ago, a move that coincided with an upturn in form for the south Londoners.

The 30-year-old has scored 16 goals in 140 appearances since joining Palace in 2014, and, despite his pride, said he tries not to let the armband’s responsibility weigh his performances down.

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“It was a proud moment for me to be told I was going to be captain of the club but I try not to let it affect me and just go out and play my normal game,” said Puncheon.

“The manager expects us all to reach certain standards and so we all have to do our bit when we are out on the pitch, there is no special treatment for anyone and looking at the squad I think that has really helped us all.

“I play for this football club with great pride and passion but I have always been vocal even before I was captain although the big thing for me is the team winning games.

“As the leader of the side for me it is important to show that I can play my part in making sure we get the results.”

Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks that England midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be shipped out of the Emirates this summer, but Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has dismissed the notion.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has just 15 months to run on his current contract in north London and has attracted the interest in recent months from the likes of Premier League rivals Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City.

Wenger, who is expected to put pen-to-paper on a new two-year deal at the Emirates imminently, has been urged to complete a major overhaul of the club’s playing staff this summer, with Oxlade-Chamberlain thought to be vulnerable.

Despite moving into a central midfield role in the second half of the season, Oxlade-Chamberlain has once again been a peripheral figure at the Emirates this season but Wenger insists the England man is central to Arsenal’s long-term planning.

Santi Cazorla will return next season and, with Aaron Ramsey, Mohamed Elneny, Francis Coquelin, Granit Xhaka and Jack Wilshere also at the club – Oxlade-Chamberlain faces a battle to make his mark centrally.

“I personally think it is vital that Chamberlain stays at Arsenal,” said Wenger. “We bought him when he was very young, we have built him up and I think he has a great mentality and a good football brain. It would be a big damage for us to lose this kind of player.

“He can lose balls but defensively he is strong in the challenge when he wants to switch on. He has that kind of robustness to deal with body-to-body which is very important in the Premier League.

“When I didn’t play Ozil I had to find a combination with Alex in central midfield. He is offensive and you can see as well he is a guy who can get out of pressure. He has a dribbling skill and acceleration that can get you out of pressure.

“He can penetrate, and in midfield that is important. I felt as well sometimes on the flank he is out of the game but in the middle he is more focused. He needs to be involved in the game.”

West Ham defender Jose Fonte has called on the Hammers to really kick on in the final weeks of the season and build on last Saturday’s crucial 1-0 win over Swansea.

The Hammers had been on a terrible run of form losing five in a row in the Premier League and had been sucked precariously close to the dreaded drop zone.

However, Cheikhou Kouyate’s stunning strike brought huge relief at the final whistle and with it a first clean sheet for Slaven Bilic’s men since mid-January.

Fonte, who arrived at the club from Southampton, is convinced the clean sheet and morale-boosting win can now propel the club forward as they look to end the campaign on a high.

Those three points took the Hammers into 14th place in the Premier League table – they were also the only team in the bottom half to win this weekend, meaning they are now eight points clear of Swansea in 18th.

(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

“I am very pleased, above all for the fans and everyone involved with West Ham,” said the Portuguese defender. “The clean sheet was important, but the three points was more vital. It was a big game, and we are pleased with the result.

“There was a lot of pressure, everyone knows we have been through a bad patch, but we have worked hard.

“We are still working hard, there is a lot still to do, but this was a good day and we are grateful for the three points.

“Our aim is to win the next two matches, and then we can start to look at things a little differently.

“Not to relax, but to be more comfortable and to play in a way that we perhaps haven’t been able to while the pressure is really on.

“You can’t take your foot off the gas in this league. It’s a tough league, the best in the world, and if you are not ‘at it’ every single game, you are not going to win.

“So it’s about giving everything we have in every game, and if we do that we will pick up points.”

Ronald Koeman has warned Ross Barkley that he risks being sold if he doesn’t sign a new Everton contract.

Midfielder Barkley was in sparkling form on Sunday as the Toffees beat reigning Premier League champions 4-2, the highlight being a superb whipped cross for the first of two Romelu Lukaku goals.

However, the 23-year-old’s current Everton deals runs out next summer and manager Koeman admits the equation is simple – Barkley signs a new contract and stays or doesn’t and is shipped out.

“We offer him a new contract, and then [there are] two possibilities,” Koeman said when asked what he could do to keep Barkley.

“One, he signs that contract, if he doesn’t sign that contract then we need to sell the player. It’s simple, it’s not so difficult in my opinion.”

Barkley isn’t the only Everton hot shot that could be on his way out of Goodison Park, with the future of Lukaku also up in the air.

Lukaku scored twice on Sunday to take his tally for the season to 23, and Koeman is eager to see his best players stay with Everton.

“We try to keep the best players,” Koeman added. “We spoke a lot about Ross and Rom because they are really important. Most of the time the quality of the players can be the difference between Everton and the opponent, and they played really well.

“We know Rom is a great finisher but Ross played really good football between the lines. I think he should have scored one but it is what you like to see – your best players performing like they showed because they played outstanding, the whole team performance was outstanding.

“You need those kind of players on their top level because they make differences and that’s what we like.”

Marco Silva insists Hull City’s Premier League fate is in their own hands as they continue to hover precariously above the relegation zone.

Silva’s men were soundly beaten 3-1 by Manchester City on Saturday as everyone in the bottom four suffered defeats during the weekend.

That leaves Hull two points ahead of 18th-placed Swansea who have just a single point from their last five games having enjoyed an initial up-surge under Paul Clement.

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images

Hull meanwhile enjoyed back-to-back wins before facing Pep Guardiola’s men with Silva conceding that the better side won on Saturday afternoon.

“Our destiny remains in our own hands and this is important and we have to keep it this way. We are in a six-week fight now,” he said.

“We believe in our capacity to be successful. I believed that when I arrived here and I have tried to pass this on to my players. It is a big fight until the end.

“Manchester City deserved to win the game and their second goal soon after half time was the key.

“In the first half, in some moments we did well on the counter-attack and in other areas as well. It was an unlucky first goal that we conceded.

“We tried to change some things at half time, to play higher up the pitch and put pressure on our opponents, but their second goal within minutes of the second half starting was the key.”

Swansea City must see each of their remaining six Premier League games as a cup final according to midfielder Leroy Fer.

After an initial honeymoon period under new manager Paul Clement, the Swans have picked up just one point from their last five games.

On Saturday, a Cheikhou Kouyate strike was enough for West Ham to end a five-game losing run and relieve the pressure on boss Slaven Bilic.

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The defeat leaves Swansea two points adrift of Hull inside the relegation zone and Fer says his side must maintain a positive, play-to-win attitude for the remainder of the season.

“We still have six games to go and we must go into each one looking to win,” he said.

“Watford is next up on Saturday. It’s going to be a hard game again, but we have to stay positive and go there to win.  It’s going to be massive, but every game left is like a final now.

“We must only focus on ourselves and not look at other teams to do anything for us.

“We spoke before kick off (against West Ham) that it was a huge game. We went out to win it, but we just didn’t have our best performance.”