• Teenager threw ball into Patrick van Aanholt’s face in 4-1 win over Sunderland • ‘Sometimes you must be hard with him but sometimes friendly, with love’

Mauricio Pochettino has described Dele Alli as “a little bit naughty” and says he treats the Tottenham midfielder like a son after the teenager intentionally threw the ball into the face of Patrick van Aanholt during his side’s comfortable 4-1 victory over Sunderland.

Alli, who signed a contract extension at Spurs last week until 2021, has been a key player for the club this season, having finally moved from MK Dons last summer following a loan-back agreement upon signing for Tottenham in February 2015.

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The former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said on Sunday that attempts were made to bring Alli to Anfield before his transfer to Tottenham and the England midfielder impressed again going forward as Spurs bounced back from their midweek defeat by Leicester. He angered Van Aanholt, however, by flicking the ball into the defender’s face after it had gone out of play.

Alli was at fault for Sunderland’s goal, letting Van Aanholt slip in behind Tottenham’s defence following a fine pass from Adam Johnson, the Dutch full-back finishing well at the near post past Hugo Lloris. Pochettino’s side responded well, Christian Eriksen equalising almost immediately before Mousa Dembélé, Eriksen again and Harry Kane secured the win.

“I didn’t see it, this is the truth,” said Pochettino of the ball-in-the-face incident. “He’s very young, he needs to learn a lot. It’s a little bit naughty; he’s a little bit naughty. I like how he is because you need to be a little bit naughty when you play football. It is true that he needs to learn.

“He’s young and we need to accept that he needs to learn in a professional side. He’s come from MK Dons. He played in League One last season but his character is his character. I will show and explain that it is better if he reacted a different way. First, I need to see the incident because I did not see it.

“He is how he is. Sometimes you need to be hard with him, sometimes you need to be friendly and give love. It’s like your son. Sometimes you need to give love, sometimes you need to be hard with him.”

Tottenham stay fourth in the Premier League table before an FA Cup third-round replay against Leicester City on Wednesday. Pochettino hinted that players would be rested at the King Power Stadium but insisted he was not prioritising the league.

“It’s not that I prioritise,” he said. “It’s impossible to play with the same players every game. It’s very difficult. Sometimes we need to pick different players, to share the minutes and try to play like this. It’s important – you need to understand that we have 24, 25 players in the squad and it’s for that. It’s difficult to rest, to be fresh and to perform well in different games.

“It’s not about ambitions. It’s about trying to win games and be fresh because it’s impossible to keep the performance if you play 70 games in a season. If you want to achieve something important at the end of the season, every single player needs to be involved. They need to feel like they are a very important part of the team.”

Sunderland remain in the bottom three but there were reasons to be positive for their manager, Sam Allardyce. The England Under-21 goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made his Premier League debut and produced a number of saves, twice denying Kane with efforts outside the penalty area. Without him, the margin of victory could have been significantly higher.

Another debutant, however, the German defender Jan Kirchhoff, had an afternoon to forget, conceding a late penalty for a foul on Danny Rose having deflected Eriksen’s second goal over Pickford and in from 25 yards.

Paul Bracewell, the Sunderland assistant manager, said: “We’ve got to dust ourselves down. Tottenham are a good side, they’ll be there or thereabouts at the end of the season, I’m sure, but the most important thing is what we do. It’s going to be a tough second half of the season but we’re confident we can get the results.”

Man of the match Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur)