Ralph Hasenhuttl still not a fan of FA Cup replays as Southampton take on Tottenham Hotspur

However, Saints manager won't field a second-string team on Wednesday

Ralph Hasenhuttl on Tuesday signed a new four-year contract at Southampton. Reuters

Manager Ralph Hasenhuttl reiterated his dislike for FA Cup replays ahead of Southampton's match against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.

Southampton were held 1-1 by Spurs at St Mary's last month and must now come out of their winter break to fight again in north London for a place in the last 16. Hasenhuttl has asked for no replays during the break next season.

"My personal opinion is I'm not a friend of these replays, first because it minimises the chances of the smaller teams to maybe make these big miracles and go through to the next round," Hasenhuttl said.

"The second thing is the schedule. We were all accepting that we would have this replay in the winter break. Maybe next year we should think about if it is really necessary to make it exactly in this week.

"This is something we must think about maybe that doesn't make sense, because we speak about a winter break and there is no winter break."

Having said that, Hasenhuttl is not going to field a second-string team like Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has done.

"It's not the best but we have to accept it," he added. "For us it's not as hard as teams playing in the Champions League and continuing playing three games a week all season.

"But we didn't fight for 90 minutes with Tottenham at home to then go there with another 23. It's a very big game for us and that's why we are taking it seriously."

Hasenhuttl said his counterpart Jose Mourinho will also be taking the replay seriously as it offers Spurs their best chance of a trophy this season.

"Even if they rotate they have so much quality in the squad," he said. "We're expecting the best possible team from them. Also they are looking to get a trophy this season and it's probably the best way for Tottenham to get one. They will do everything to get into the next round, but so will we."

Meanwhile, Dele Alli insists there are no hard feelings after Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling's challenge left the midfielder nursing an injury.

Sterling was lucky to avoid a red card in Spurs' 2-0 win over City when he went in studs-up on his England team-mate and tackled him above the ankle. Alli is an early doubt for the replay against Southampton, but has decided to forgive Sterling.

"Hopefully it is not too bad," Alli said of the injury. "I am not sure if it was a red to be honest, I have not had a proper look back at it, it is obviously for the referee and VAR to make the decision. They didn't give the red card.

"We were just chatting, he is not in the best of moods, he is a winner so it was difficult. We haven't seen each other for a while so it was nice to have a catch up.

"We were speaking about it at half-time and we are good friends. I know what sort of player Raheem is and he would never intentionally try to hurt someone. There are no hard feelings, he is a fantastic player and we move on."