Dele Alli and Tottenham’s new generation well placed to end 26-year wait for FA Cup

Greg Lea previews the FA Cup fifth round tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham.

Dele Alli, centre, and Tottenham Hotspur make the short trip across London to play Fulham in the FA CUp fifth round on Sunday. Paul Childs / Reuters

Dele Alli was not born the last time Tottenham Hotspur won the FA Cup.

The year was 1991, and victory over Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest at Wembley Stadium made the north Londoners the most successful club in the history of the competition at the time.

That was their eighth triumph, yet their failure to add another FA Cup to the trophy cabinet in the two and a half decades since means Tottenham have now been overtaken by Manchester United and Arsenal in the tournament’s all-time rankings.

They have lifted silverware on two subsequent occasions, emerging victorious from League Cup finals in 1999 and 2008, but ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Fulham in the fifth round of this season’s FA Cup, the competition is shaping up as their best chance of winning a trophy to underline their progress under Mauricio Pochettino.

Christian Eriksen, Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane had also yet to enter the world when Forest defender Des Walker inadvertently turned the ball past his own goalkeeper to give Tottenham a 2-1 lead in extra time 26 years ago, but it is Alli who best symbolises the youthful vigour of Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

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Alli, 20, has been the key figure in Tottenham’s progression to the last 16 this season, too.

The introduction of Alli from the substitutes’ bench inspired his team to victory over Aston Villa in the third round, while the England international again proved decisive after belatedly entering the fray against Wycombe Wanderers, scoring an equaliser in the 89th minute before Son struck the winner deep into injury time.

That effort in Tottenham’s 4-3 win against the League Two side in the fourth round was the last time he has found the net, with Alli failing to add to his individual tally for the season against Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Gent.

Given his age and position, though, the attacking midfielder’s record in front of goal since his Premier League debut in August 2015 is mightily impressive.

Alli has scored 23 times in all competitions for Tottenham, with 21 of those strikes coming in 57 top-flight appearances.

A league goal every 207 minutes is a fine return for a player who, around this time two years ago, was part of the MK Dons team defeated 4-2 by Gillingham in front of 5,107 fans at Priestfield Stadium.

By way of comparison, it took Paul Scholes 74 matches to reach the 20-goal mark in the Premier League, while Steven Gerrard required 169.

Frank Lampard, one of the most prolific goalscoring midfielders in the modern era, had to wait until his 141st top-tier outing to find the net for the 20th time.

All of which is not to say that Alli, whose 20th goal came in Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat of Chelsea last month, will develop into a better player than the illustrious names above, nor that he will go on to surpass their considerable medal hauls at club level.

Footballers do not develop at the same rate, but the early signs are at least promising for Alli.

Nevertheless, it is certainly worth taking a step back and recognising that Alli’s accomplishments, even if they have not yet translated into a trophy yet.

Securing a top-four finish and Uefa Champions League football may be Pochettino’s principal aim in the next few months, but the Argentine and his side will also have silverware in their sights, and another goalscoring show on Sunday from Alli can help make that prospect become a step closer.

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