Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli has revealed that he knew he would get the better of Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope when it came to the task of firing a second half penalty past his England teammate.
Trailing to Chris Wood's controversial 13th minute opener, Spurs were handed the opportunity to draw themselves level just five minutes into the second half when Erik Lamela was tripped inside the penalty area by Clarets centre-back Ben Mee.
With penalty-taker-in-chief Harry Kane still sidelined through injury, Alli took on the responsibility of stepping up from 12 yards to fire the ball home, sending Pope the wrong way.
Alli and Pope, of course, have both spent plenty of time together in the past due to their England connections, and that was what proved decisive for Alli in tucking the penalty away.
Alli, who now has nine goals this season, told Sky Sports: "We’ve been to England a few times together and we’ve had a lot of penalty practice. I don’t want to give anything away but I knew he thought I was going the other way.
"I took a lot of penalties against him in training and stuff, so he asked me why I switched sides and I said obviously because the amount of times I took penalties against him in training, I knew he was going to go that way.
"I’m happy to score but in the end it was a difficult game and we’re going to go away disappointed."
