No hiding how big the match against Chelsea is, says Alli
Dele Alli knows just how big an occasion Sunday’s Wembley meeting with Chelsea is for Tottenham Hotspur as he looks to replicate his heroics from last season.
Spurs start life in their temporary home with a London derby against the Premier League champions, who have had the better of their recent meetings at the national stadium.
Chelsea have won the past three Wembley outings, including last season’s FA Cup semi-final, with Tottenham winning just one of their past nine games.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side were underwhelming at Wembley last season as they played their European ties there, losing to Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen in the Uefa Champions League and only managing to draw with Gent in the Europa League.
Alli was sent off in that stalemate with the Belgian outfit which saw Spurs knocked out of the competition but the England international is now prepared to turn Tottenham’s fortunes around.
“Obviously every game is important and every game means a lot to the players and the fans,” he told the club’s official website.
“But there’s no hiding how big Sunday’s match is to all of us. We’ve got some history with Chelsea over the last couple of years and we’re going out there looking to win the game.
“Obviously we were disappointed with the FA Cup semi-final against them at Wembley.
“It was another cracking game, a real battle and we played very well on the day but Chelsea just had the edge.
“I’m sure it’s going to be another great game this time.”
While winning at Wembley has proved a challenge, Tottenham are unbeaten at home against Chelsea since 2012, chalking up a memorable 5-3 win in 2015 before Alli scored both goals in a 2-0 victory last season.
“Without doubt that game was among my highlights of my time at Spurs,” he added.
“It was such a big match, they were on a good run as well and we wanted to put an end to that. To win 2-0 and for me to score both goals was a great feeling.”
Chelsea go into the game on the back of a shock home defeat to Burnley in their opening game of the season and with several unsettling factors still yet to be resolved.
Diego Costa remains exiled in Brazil while injuries and suspensions have left manager Antonio Conte bemoaning the size of his squad.
Kieran Trippier could return from injury to replace Kyle Walker-Peters at right-back in Pochettino’s side with Davinson Sanchez awaiting a work permit after his club-record deal was announced on Friday. Elsewhere, Huddersfield
Town manager David Wagner feels there is nothing wrong with there being a rising sense of expectation around the club – but is amused by the suggestion they are favourites for today’s match against Newcastle United.
Huddersfield head into what will be their first Premier League home game having last week made a hugely impressive start to their first topflight campaign since 1971/72, winning 3-0 at Crystal Palace. Asked ahead of the Newcastle contest about trying to manage expectations, Wagner said: “Maybe they are rising and I will not stop expectations, because we have expectations.
“We were very happy with our start and we are now very excited to have the first Premier League home game in the club’s history in front of us.
“We will prepare as good as we can to cause Newcastle some problems.”
But Wagner also emphasised that Newcastle, beaten 2-0 at home by Tottenham at St James’ Park last Sunday, are “an opponent with a lot of experience, quality and a fantastic manager” in Rafael Benitez.
Costa remains exiled in Brazil while injuries and suspensions have left manager Conte bemoaning the size of his squad