Dele Alli can play anywhere on the pitch – Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino says Dele Alli could play anywhere on the pitch after he scored again in Tottenham’s 2-1 win against Southampton on Sunday.

Alli scored his 14th league goal of the season, and 17th in total, from the penalty spot after he was fouled by Steven Davis midway through the first half.

The 20-year-old started the game behind lone striker Son Heung-Min, who replaced the injured Harry Kane in Spurs’ starting XI, and Pochettino believes the England international has the instincts of a centre-forward in the penalty area.

“Dele Alli can always surprise you. You can’t guess with him. He has an unbelievable personality and character. It’s all possible with him,” Pochettino told his postmatch news conference.

“He’s a player that is playing in his best position. He’s a player who likes to run into the box, he’s very offensive. He’s very clever in the box — in the box he looks like a striker, because he’s more than clever. He’s very smart. Outside the box he plays like a midfielder.

“I saw him at 17-years-old for MK Dons playing as a holding midfielder against Manchester United and he can always surprise. Maybe one day he’ll play like a goalkeeper or a full-back or centre-back!

“You will always miss your main striker,” Pochettino added. “But with him [Kane] injured, it was important for us to get that feeling to win the game, score goals and I think to keep our position in the table. It was a very important three points.”

Christian Eriksen gave Spurs the lead in the 13th minute with a low shot from 20 yards, making it three goals and seven assists in his last six appearances, but James Ward-Prowse pulled a goal back at the start of the second half after a rare mistake from Toby Alderweireld.

It was the second consecutive league match when Spurs have let a two-goal advantage slip but they held on to extend their record winning run at home to ten Premier League matches.

“It’s fantastic. I think the team fully deserves all the praise,” Pochettino said of the sequence, which started with a 3-2 victory over West Ham in November.

“They’re playing very well and it’s true that today was a tough game. In the second half maybe we suffered a little bit but in the end we fully deserved it. The performance was good and it is difficult to play and keep your level in every game.

“We need to be pleased to keep our position, take the three points. In the first half we were 2-0 up, in control of the game and it’s true that we made a mistake on the goal we conceded but that can always happen in football. It’s important that in the end the victory kept us in a very good position in the table?

“I agree we need to improve by trying to score the third or the fourth, and finishing the game before because we were much better than Southampton. We allowed them to believe.”