Tottenham will miss Dele Alli more than Harry Kane

Dele Alli picked up a hamstring injury against Fulham on Sunday. Here’s why he may be a bigger miss than Harry Kane.

Tottenham proved they can win without leading scorer Harry Kane, even if it took until the deep recesses of injury time to beat Fulham 2-1 on Sunday.

Winning without Dele Alli might be tougher, though. Alli headed in the equalizer at Craven Cottage before leaving the pitch with a suspected hamstring injury, per BBC Sport.

Alli is joining Kane, who is out until at least the beginning of March with an ankle problem, on the shelf. The Tottenham treatment table is also occupied by Lucas Moura and Moussa Sissoko at the same time Heung-min Son is representing South Korea at the Asian Cup.

Alli is the most costly absentee because he’s the one player defenses struggle to account for. His movement between the midfield and forward lines is perhaps the most perceptive in the Premier League.

Alli’s talent for running beyond the front would have helped offset losing Kane’s presence and goals.

Those runs were especially important because Kane’s replacement, Fernando Llorente, is a more static target man. Defenders know exactly where Llorente is going to be, usually in the middle.

The 33-year-old isn’t as mobile as Kane, who routinely draws markers out of position whenever he peels onto the flanks. Those runs leave room for a player like Alli to go beyond him.

Llorente’s aerial power and ability to play with his back to goal allows him to combine with attacking midfielders. Yet his lack of pace means midfield runners are limited to playing up to, off and around him.

The pattern of playing a pass up to a big striker to touch the ball off to runners breaking to meet him soon becomes predictable. Think of Olivier Giroud’s struggles to impress for Chelsea.

Llorente experienced similar struggles after putting Fulham ahead with a rare own goal:

Breaking up the monotony demands a player with Alli’s willingness to sprint ahead of the striker. His breaks from deep challenge players unfamiliar with marking to assume defensive responsibilities.

Alli either leads a holding midfielder into the box or takes a more advanced midfielder into a man-marking role and out of an opponents’ forward play.

Midfielders who don’t track Alli risk letting him having free runs at full-backs who have to go with him while central defenders are occupied with the striker. It’s a mismatch favoring Spurs because Alli has the pace and technique equal to most top strikers.

He’s also aggressive and dynamic enough to win most duels in the air. Alli repeated a familiar knack for being on the end of a cross when he met Christian Eriksen’s precise delivery six minutes into the second half at Fulham:

Athleticism and timing are key for a player who has the spring in his jump to get his head to most crosses. But Alli’s success in the air owes as much to his talent for finding and exploiting space with the right runs.

Alli’s range of runs are the X factor for the Tottenham attack. Replacing them won’t be easy, especially given the laundry list of injuries.

The return of Lucas Moura can help, since the Brazilian has a flair for moving out to in. He excelled in a free role off the striker earlier in the season, notably bagging a brace when Spurs thumped Manchester United 3-0 back in August.

However, Moura’s best performances came with Kane around to take attention away from him. Things won’t be the same with Llorente easy to find and without Alli to stretch defenses out of shape.

Moura’s job won’t get any easier when Son returns. The latter is not a natural center-forward. Instead, he’s likely to drop off the front or lean toward the left flank where does his best work.

In other words, there won’t be any surprise about where Son chooses to attack defenses.

Harry Winks broke almost the length of the pitch to start and finish the move for the winner on Sunday. Even so, the goal was an anomaly from Winks rather than the norm.

The fact is Spurs don’t have another central midfielder as forward-thinking as Alli. It leaves Mauricio Pochettino’s team missing a unique and vital set of skills able to keep defenses off guard.

Operating a more predictable attack will catch up to Tottenham and damage a fine run on all fronts. The damage will leave Pochettino and Daniel Levy to consider the implications of the squad’s reliance on Alli.

As important as Kane is, Alli’s loss will always be felt more.