Dele Alli believes Tottenham Hotspur’s ruthless streak bodes incredibly well for their Emirates FA Cup chances after dispatching Millwall in style to book a semi-final at Wembley.
Spurs produced six of the best to see off a team that, while two divisions below, had already beaten three Premier League sides in this year’s competition.
Heung-Min Son notched a hat-trick, while Alli, Christian Eriksen and Vincent Janssen also found the net to hand the Lions a first defeat of 2017 and head into the Emirates FA Cup last-four for the first time since 2012.
Millwall are now winless in their last 14 competitive games against Spurs – a run stretching back 78 years – and Alli was ecstatic with the professionalism shown.
"We fancied ourselves heading into the game," he said.
"We knew it wasn’t going to be easy but we thought that if we stuck to the game plan, it would be all about putting them away.
"It was an important win for us, not just for The FA Cup but for the league as well – it was important to keep our form and keep getting the goals.
"We were hungry for goals. We knew it was going to be a difficult and we didn’t want to give them a chance to get back into it because they have got a threat.
"Everyone wants to score and get goals which is the good thing about this team."
Stopping the in-form Harry Kane, who spent some time on loan at The Den during the 2011-12 season, would have been a pre-match priority for Millwall but an ankle injury saw the striker hobble off after just 10 minutes.
However, it was his replacement Eriksen who opened the scoring on the half-hour mark as Alli chested the ball down in the box and the Dane hooked a snapshot into the corner of the net.
Millwall keeper Tom King had already repelled a couple of Spurs chances by that point but could only watch relieved as Victor Wanyama’s header from a corner cannoned off the crossbar.
That relief didn’t last long however, as Son doubled the lead on 42 minutes – cutting in from the right and arrowing a powerful shot into the far corner.
Spurs continued to press after the break and another Son stunner sealed victory as a pinpoint 40-yard ball over the top from Kieran Trippier was expertly volleyed home first-time from 10 yards out.
Alli then made it 4-0 when he tapped in at the back post from Eriksen’s precise, driven cross and Janssen got his first Spurs goal from open play by tidily finding the corner of the net with a first-time effort from just inside the box.
There was just time for Son to complete his hat-trick in added time as his close-range volley went straight through King and Alli was buoyed by the way the hosts responded to the injury to Kane.
"It’s always horrible to lose a player like H, who has been in top form," added Alli. "But it just shows the depth and quality in this side that everyone stepped up and rose to the occasion when he went off.
"We knew we had to step it up a gear and we did. We wish him a speedy recovery."
Tottenham Hotspur (3-4-3): 13 Michel Vorm; 15 Eric Dier, 4 Toby Alderweireld, 5 Jan Vertonghen; 16 Kieran Trippier, 12 Victor Wanyama, 29 Harry Winks, 33 Ben Davies; 7 Heung-Min Son, 20 Dele Alli, 10 Harry Kane.
Substitutes: 23 Christian Eriksen for Kane 10; 9 Vincent Janssen for Alli 74; 17 Moussa Sissoko for Wanyama 78.
Substitutes not used: 1 Hugo Lloris, 2 Kyle Walker, 27 Kevin Wimmer, 25 Josh Onomah.
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino
Goals: Eriksen 31, Son 41, 54, 90+2, Alli 72, Janssen 79.
Millwall (4-4-2): 31 Tom King; 2 Shaun Cummings, 17 Byron Webster, 24 Jake Cooper, 5 Tony Craig; 14 Jed Wallace, 8 Ben Thompson, 6 Shaun Williams, 22 Aiden O’Brien; 9 Lee Gregory, 20 Steve Morison.
Substitutes: 16 Calum Butcher for Thompson 45; 10 Fred Onyedinma for Morison 58; 18 Shane Ferguson for Wallace 70.
Substitutes not used: 40 Harry Girling, 4 Shaun Hutchinson, 12 Mahlon Romeo, 7 David Worrall.
Manager: Neil Harris
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Attendance: 31,137
