Tottenham Hotspur will look to progress to a FA Cup fifth round clash with Norwich City when they host Southampton in a fourth round replay on Wednesday night, but they are sweating on the fitness of a key man, according to their official website.
Spurs and the Saints have already tried to settle their differences once, when they played out a 1-1 draw at St Mary’s Stadium last month, and now one of them will go through to take on the Canaries by coming out on top as the two sides go at it again.
Tottenham will be buoyed by their 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday, but that victory might have come at a cost as Dele Alli is a doubt after being the victim of a poor challenge from Raheem Sterling in that contest.
No major damage was done to the Spurs playmaker, but the England international will need to pass checks on the day of the game if he is to take his place in the side for this replay.
Alli has been a virtual ever-present in the starting XI since Jose Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs and the playmaker has improved since the managerial change.
Elsewhere, the Tottenham hero against City, Steven Bergwijn, will not feature as he was not available for the original tie, so he will need to be replaced.
There is positive news on left-back Ben Davies, who has returned to Spurs training having recovered from the ankle injury he picked up in November, although this match might come too soon for him.
Jose Mourinho will be without Spurs duo Moussa Sissoko and Harry Kane, who remain on the sidelines, but the feeling is that he will name a strong side for the tie, even though this is meant to be the week of the winter break for the Londoners.
Tottenham have not won the FA Cup since 1991, so they will be eager to dispose of Southampton at the second opportunity and book their place in the last 16 of the famous competition.
