Having replaced Mauricio Pochettino on Wednesday last week as head coach of Tottenham Hotspur, Mourinho had an immediate impact with goals from Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura, Harry Kane and especially Dele Ali. Jose Mourinho’s new found energy looked to have rubbed off on his Tottenham players, who had arguably looked lethargic in Pochettino’s final few games at the helm. Tottenham Hotspur FC had performed consistently well for Pochettino until the disappointment of losing the Champions League final at the end of last season. It has been downhill ever since that game kicked off, culminating in Pochettino’s dismissal. After struggling for form under Mauricio Pochettino, the arrival of Jose Mourinho has been a shot in the arm for the England midfielder Dele Alli.

Saturday’s brace was Alli at his positive best, making runs behind the opposition defence and demonstrating excellent composure to slot home. The trio of goal contributions is completed by the perfectly-weighted through ball that enabled Son Heung-min – who incidentally now has 71 Premier League goal contributions to his name (46 goals and 25 assists) – to open the scoring against West Ham. Mourinho was quick to point out that he doesn’t see Alli as a midfielder after Saturday’s game and wants him continue joining Spurs’ attacking players in forward areas – arguably where he can cause the most damage. The freedom that Alli has been afforded under his new manager is a far cry from how Pochettino deployed him as his tenure came to an end – and Alli is clearly thriving from Tottenham playing to his strengths.