STOKE -- Tottenham midfielder Dele Alli said he feels he proved at Stoke that he has got better at ignoring provocation and shrugging off rough treatment.

Alli, 21, has sometimes struggled to keep his cool in the past. He was retrospectively banned for punching West Bromwich Albion's Claudio Yacob in the stomach in April 2016, and he was sent off for an ugly tackle on Gent's Brecht Dejaegere in February 2017.

Alli's temperament was tested by Stoke centre-back Ryan Shawcross in the early stages of Saturday's match -- one challenge left the youngster hobbling slightly. However, the Spurs midfielder refused to be wound up and went on to set up Christian Eriksen's opening goal in the 2-1 victory.

"I've been trying to improve a lot of aspects of my game and I wanted to keep my head," Alli said. "When the first tackle from Shawcross came in, I knew straight away what he was trying to do with it.

"He's a nice guy and that's the sort of player he is -- he's an aggressive player -- so I didn't want to react to him. I played my own game and I was really happy with the result."