Dele: "You can't write it sometimes..."

It was written in the stars - and on our list of penalty takers...

Three years after leaving Milton Keynes, Dele Alli was back at Stadium MK and standing over a penalty that would send us through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Dele was back home, both in terms of life and football, and was determined to make his mark.

Handed the honour of the captaincy for the first time by Mauricio Pochettino for the third round tie against Watford, Dele had already stood up to be counted nine minutes from time, when he was first fouled and then converted a penalty to level the scores at 1-1.

Erik Lamela struck soon after for 2-1 and it looked like we were home. It wasn’t to be though, as Etienne Capoue levelled the scores in the final minute. At 2-2, we headed to penalties.

And so Dele’s second moment arrived. Heung-Min Son, Erik and Fernando Llorente converted and after Paulo Gazzaniga saved his second spot-kick, it was time for Dele to take us home again - and the thought had crossed his mind as he waited for his turn on half-way.

"I was thinking that as it was getting closer...you can’t write it sometimes!" Dele smiled.

"I wanted to step up and score the winning penalty. It was written down for me to take the fourth penalty and that’s how it played out.

"More importantly, we won the game. It was a great reaction from the boys after conceding late to come back and win on penalties."

With club captain Hugo Lloris still recovering from an injury and Mauricio Pochettino’s decision to rest both Jan Vertonghen and Harry Kane, Dele was offered the chance to skipper the side for the first time and the midfielder admitted that it was a moment of immense pride for him.

"To captain the side was a huge honour for me," he told us. "The gaffer spoke to me on Tuesday and asked me if I’d like to be captain and obviously I wanted to.

"It’s a great day for me but more than anything, no matter what happens individually in a game, it’s all about the team and going into the next round, for the fans as well.

"The game was emotional at times but Watford are a great side and they made it difficult for us. Sometimes, it has to go the full distance to penalties and as I said, the boys showed great character after we conceded that late goal to still have the mentality to go and perform like that in the penalties.

"The quality of penalties was good and you need your goalkeeper to step up. Paulo did that with two great saves."