Former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has claimed that Dele Alli deserves to be up for the PFA Player of the Year award ahead of Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez.

Tottenham Hotspur's Alli was included in the nominees for the Young Player of the Year award, but was a notable absentee from the main prize despite having scored 13 Premier League goals since mid-December.

Sanchez, by contrast, enjoyed a fine start to the campaign and has 18 league goals to his name this season, but has begun to tail off in recent weeks during Arsenal's slump in form.

"Yes [Alli should be on the list]. I think the votes are too soon. If you look at the six there, Sanchez – in a team that has had quite a negative season at the moment, Arsenal – his season has petered out a little bit," Lampard told BBC Sport.

"I think with Dele Alli, his problem is that he had a weaker first half of the season, and maybe when the votes have gone in, we haven't seen the form he's been in of late.

"You would think with the technology today that the votes surely can be cast in the last week of the season. Not in the middle of February, it's crazy."

Eden Hazard, N'Golo Kante, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane are also up for the award.