Tottenham Hotspur would have been looking to put their defeat to Manchester United behind them with a victory against Fulham yesterday, but they would not have planned to leave it so late in the day.
After Fernando Llorente’s own goal pegged the Lilywhites back, Dele Alli equalised in the 51st minute, and Harry Winks eventually turned up as an unlikely source of a headed winner in the final minute of stoppage time.
Winks had worked tirelessly in the centre of midfield all game, with his usual partner of Moussa Sissoko out injured for the fixture.
He instead had Christian Eriksen for company, but the Great Dane is hardly one for tough tackling, with Winks having to get through most of the dirty work himself.
He covered every single blade of grass on that pitch, offering himself up defensively and offensively for the team.
Pochettino singled the academy graduate out for praise come the final whistle.
He said (Football London): “I feel so proud. That thing today, we were talking in the last few weeks that it is something he needs to improve, arrive in the opponent’s box and try to score more goals. That is his second goal in the Premier League. With his quality, how he plays, in possession he needs to add and improve those two different areas in his game: without the ball, be more aggressive. He’s doing that and I am so happy and of course trying to score more goals, because always a midfielder if you add goals, like Rakitic and Modric, you start to think that you are a top top player. Today was fantastic. I advise all people to watch the action and how it started. He recovered the ball in a very deep position, like a full-back and then how he ran with great determination to score. It was a fantastic example for the players.”
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