Tottenham Hotspur made it to the fourth round of the FA Cup today as they comprehensively beat Marine 5-0. This game was, literally, the most mismatched match-up (by pecking order in the Football Association) in the entire history of the tournament. Dele Alli put in an impressive performance and Jose Mourinho hinted that the Englishman could get some game time in the Premier League too, he told the BBC via Goal.
Spurs found the first twenty minutes of the game challenging, but never looked back once they opened the scoring. A hat trick from Carlos Vinicius and a goal from Lucas Moura and Alfie Devine secured a comfortable win.
Devine became the youngest player and goal-scorer in Spurs history. As for Alli, he’s one player who has not found much playing time under this boss in the Premier League. He has featured in the other competitions though and has shown, at times, glimpses of his quality.
But given what Mourinho had to say after the FA Cup match, it suggests there could be a way back for the midfielder.
When asked about what he thought of the player’s performance, he had this to tell the BBC via Goal:
“He was here today and of course it was not the match to measure the quality, but the professionalism and attitude and I am very happy with it, I will not be surprised if next Wednesday, Dele is playing with us.”
This was a match that could have gone either way for the North Londoners had they not taken it seriously. But despite the hosts trying their best to disrupt Spurs, they kept things professional and managed to get a resounding win.
It would have been nice for the manager to see a player like Alli contribute in the way he did.
Though he did not get on the scoresheet, the midfielder played a crucial role in building attacks and also in the transition from attack to defence.
Tottenham will now look forward to Wednesday where they will be taking on Aston Villa in the Premier League.
A win there would further strengthen their challenge for the domestic title and given the COVID issues at Villa, a win is very likely and we might see Spurs and Mourinho give Dele Alli another chance. He will want to show what he is capable of and this would be a good time to do that.