FACING THE BEST IS A BIG SPUR FOR ME
Alli’s Champions League mission
THE title may be looking beyond them, but Dele Alli wants his Spurs side back in the Champions League.
The north Londoners host Everton on Sunday with Ronald Koeman’s men fired up by their pursuit of a top-six finish.
Alli (left), however, believes Spurs have unfinished business in European football’s elite competition after failing to live up to expectations this season.
“There’s tough competition in the Premier League but we fancy ourselves against anyone. So it will be disappointing if we don’t get back in,’’ he said.
“We’re kicking ourselves that we didn’t do better in the Champions League.
“We are confident in our ability as a team and we probably expected to go a bit further. We have the team to achieve a lot of great things.
“We want to be up there with the best teams in the world. But to do that we have to be in the Champions League, playing against them.
“It is important that we are ambitious. We know where we should be and we know what we can do as a team.
“When we are on form and playing well, I don’t think there is anyone in the Premier League that can beat us. There are no boundaries. Hopefully in the future, maybe even this season, we will start winning trophies.”
Injuries to key players such as Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld hurt their campaign, but Alli has refused to blame either their absences or the move to Wembley.
Speaking in the April edition of FourFourTwo magazine, he added: “A lot of people were saying the Wembley factor had a negative effect on us.
“All of those fans turned up and we simply didn’t put in the performances that we knew we should have done.”
In recent weeks, Alli and Kane have been vital in Tottenham’s push for a top-four place and FA Cup success. Alli struck late against Wycombe in a dramatic 4-3 fourth-round win. Kane’s hat-trick at Fulham in round five set up a quarter-final home tie against Millwall.
Alli also netted in a 2-2 Premier League draw at Manchester City, while Kane has hit three hattricks in his last nine games. Both men were on the scoresheet last Sunday against Stoke.
Alli said: “We always talk about the opposition before a game. We tell each other what we’re going to be looking to do, then try to put it into action.
“He’s a fantastic player. You know that if you play the ball through to him, then nine times out of 10 he’s going to find the back of the net.
“It is an honour to play with a striker like that.’’