Pochettino admits title challenge ‘is possible’
Mauricio Pochettino says that a Tottenham title challenge “is always possible” after his side climbed to third in the Premier League.
Spurs beat Watford 2-1 on Monday thanks to a last-minute winner from Heung-min Son, and Pochettino’s men are now third, four points behind leaders Arsenal.
The north London side have been defeated the fewest times this season (twice), have the best defensive record (15 conceded), and only Leicester, Manchester City and Everton have scored more in the league.
As a result, a potential title challenge has been mooted in this most batsh*t mental of seasons, and Pochettino has finally conceded that his side could play their part.
“I think that the numbers reflect that it [the title] is always possible,” he said. “But the most important thing for us is to keep working very hard, because we are very young.
“You need to show the strength during the whole season and, if we start to speak today about the title, it is still most important to work hard and show in every game what we showed today.
“It was a fantastic victory because a few weeks ago Liverpool had a lot of problems here and lost 3-0. We came here and we were unlucky to concede a goal, on a difficult pitch because the grass was bad.
“It’s very important to keep our feet on the ground. We have very clever and smart players that are available to learn about football. The key is to keep behaving in the same way as we did six months ago when we started the league.”
Pochettino utilised an unfamiliar 3-4-3 formation to battle the Hornets, which provided Spurs the opportunity and space to counter attack. Pochettino said of his tactics: “We analysed them and the they play is mostly long ball; to put the opponent in a difficult situation.
“I think we made a good solution to give calm to the team and build from the back. Eric Dier played as a centre-back but it was not too dramatic because he normally plays as a holding midfielder.
“We should be very proud. It was a mature performance.”
