Wondergoal scorer Dele All 00004000 i has surprised us all – Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino says Dele Alli has surprised everyone at Tottenham with his quality and maturity and expects the teenager’s wondergoal in a 3-1 Premier League win over Crystal Palace to be seen around the world.

Spurs fell behind in the 30th minute at Selhurst Park on Saturday due to an own goal by Jan Vertonghen, who later limped off injured.

Harry Kane equalised in the 63rd minute before Alli completed the turnaround in magnificent fashion, controlling the ball before flicking it over the head of Mile Jedinak and volleying into the bottom-left corner on the turn from the edge of the area.

Nacer Chadli made it 3-1 in the fifth minute of added time with a wonderful curling effort from long range, but it was Alli’s strike that stole the limelight.

Pochettino told Sky Sports: “I think it was fantastic, fantastic goal, great goal. I think that shows the moment he’s in and the quality he has. It’s a fantastic goal maybe seen around the world on TV because it was unbelievable.

“You expect always from the player you sign; good behaviour, professional, good quality but you know I cannot lie, I think that he surprised [us] all with the way he plays and the maturity he shows.

“We knew he was a player with unbelievable potential but I think he showed unbelievable maturity and quality. It’s great to see him to play.”

On Spurs’ overall performance he added: “Always it’s difficult to play here. We concede a goal, we were better in the first half but then we’re 1-0 down. Another fantastic performance, in the second half it was difficult because Crystal Palace played very deep. 

“Our mentality in the way that we play, fight and the winning mentality we showed and the maturity we showed was fantastic. I think we fully deserved the result.”

Pochettino is unaware of the extent of the injury to Vertonghen, saying: “We need to wait, we hope it’s not a big issue. It’s painful, his knee and his ankle but we will assess him tomorrow [Sunday].”