Alli raises his game against stronger opposition, warns Pochettino ahead of Man City clash

Mauricio Pochettino has warned Pep Guardiola and Manchester City that Dele Alli saves his best performances for the biggest opponents ahead of their Wembley showdown.

The England international, who turned 22 this week, inspired Tottenham in their 3-1 win over Chelsea at the start of April and is set to start against the champions elect tonight.

City are the biggest spenders in England but Pochettino says the ‘special’ talent inside his starlet is not something that can easily be bought in the transfer market.

Though he has faced criticism for his inconsistent form this season, Dele has still scored and assisted more Premier League goals than Cristiano Ronaldo had by the age of 22.

According to Pochettino, it is the big games that truly excite Dele as he explained: ‘He is so competitive. For him he needs a strong opposition to give his best.

‘Training sessions sometimes, if you do finishing without opposition, we say, “Come on Dele, you have the capacity to score”. But if you put opposition, he scores unbelievable goals.’

Despite supposedly having an ‘off season’ by his standards, Pochettino is confident that the talent is always there inside Dele waiting to be unleashed.

‘He is a little bit special, a special talent, a special character,’ Pochettino continued. ‘That is why we are talking a lot during the whole season about Dele Alli. He is a special talent, special energy, a special player.

‘He needs to feel the competition. I think you can improve but you need to be born with this character and this mental strength. Then you need people to help you improve.

‘If you don’t have from your parents it’s so difficult, you can improve a little bit but it’s not a thing you can buy in the market.’

City go into this off the back of three consecutive defeats and appearing vulnerable for the first time under Guardiola. Pochettino still sees them as the best team in England and did not wish to compare his team to theirs.

‘If you want big prizes you need to win and how you win, that is different,’ Pochettino said. ‘Tottenham need to compare with Tottenham in the last 10 years.

‘From when we arrived the challenge from the club was to be top four and of course we reduced the gap and we are competing.

‘You need to assess if we are achieving or not or we are on a good level. The people we know, the club is happy to be in the top four and happy, more than happy, if it is possible to achieve the Champions League for the third time in a row.’