England star Dele Alli takes exception to anyone who would call Tottenham soft on the football field.

Alli believes that Spurs and their players have proved their mental qualities in recent games, and they are not the type of shirk from a physical challenge either.

He was speaking ahead of the team's FA Cup tie against Rochdale.

"We're not soft," he said.

"A lot of us grew up playing on worse pitches than that. A lot of us grew up playing on concrete and surfaces like that so I don't think the pitch is a problem.

"We've just got to go there and be professional and put on a good performance to win the game. It's going to be a very difficult night for us. It's important we don't go there and think it'll be an easy game. We know it's not going to be easy.

"We saw that against Newport in the previous round when we played them – it was a difficult game and we had to play them at our place and get the win there.

"It suits them a lot more being at their place but we want to go there and play well, put on a good performance and win the game."