Mauricio Pochettino has warned Chelsea that Tottenham Hotspur are ready to capitalise on any slip after Saturday’s recording-breaking victory over Bournemouth.
Spurs moved to within four points of the league leaders with a 4-0 victory over the Cherries at White Hart Lane — a club-record 12th-consecutive home win and the first time since 1967 that they have won seven top-flight matches in a row.
The Blues travel to Manchester United on Sunday, before the London rivals meet at Wembley in next Saturday’s FA Cup semifinal.
“Our job was to get the three points and we got the three points. Now, if they fail, we will be there,” Pochettino told a postmatch news conference.
“The pressure is now on Chelsea to try to win at Old Trafford and it’s sure that it will be a very tough game for them. But there are still a lot of games to play. It would be fantastic if tomorrow night, after the game, the gap is still four points.
“But four points is still a lot. If they don’t get any points tomorrow, it would be fantastic but still they are the favourites to win the Premier League. They are on the top. But we are fighting to be there, and to play for the top four — for the second consecutive season, we are there. And I think that is a big credit for the players. It’s fantastic for the club.”
Goals from Mousa Dembele — his first of the season — and Son Heung-Min had wrapped up the win inside 20 minutes, before Harry Kane scored his 20th league of the season just after half-time and substitute Vincent Janssen added gloss with his first league goal from open play in stoppage time.
Spurs have now scored four times or more on eight occasions this season, a quarter of all league matches.
Asked if goal difference could be a factor in the title push, Pochettino said: “For me, yes. And for them, too. It’s so important. The only way to build that winning mentality is to always play in the same tempo and with the same focus and concentrations during 90, 95 minutes.
“Never give up. Three-nil, 4-0 or 1-0, 2-0 — the team must forget the result. It’s important to always try to go forward, keep possession, score goals — that is the mentality that we are building in the group.”
Last season, Spurs challenged Leicester City for the title but collapsed in the final four matches, eventually finishing third after a foul-tempered 2-2 draw at Chelsea confirmed the Foxes as champions.
Pochettino said Spurs had learnt lessons from last term, and reiterated that it was a more even playing field this year.
“I think that we learned a lot. There was a very bad period at the end of the last season that we spent a lot of energy fighting against Leicester, against West Bromwich, against Chelsea, against the media, against the people,” he said.
“We fought against all and we spent a lot of energy. But now we are focused on fighting our opponent when we play and then we spend time and energy to prepare ourselves to compete in the best way. It’s the biggest test for us. We have improved a lot. That was our challenge from the beginning of the season to improve in our mentality, our belief, and I think you can see the group and the team have improved a lot.
“If you win like today it’s a big thing for you, to put pressure on your opponent. Last season we never had the possibility to play before Leicester.
“But it was good if you heard before Palace-Arsenal [on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football] from Claudio Ranieri. We recognised the world was, for us, trying to help Leicester. Maybe last season, when I told you, you thought, ‘This guy is a little bit crazy.’
“Now that you hear from him, now I think you can put in my position and the players’ position that was so, so difficult because the team that all the world tried to kill was Tottenham in second. It was impossible to understand why. It was very good to hear from Claudio Ranieri that comment, because it means a lot. It means a lot. Leicester fully deserved the title last season. But now I think you understand more our behaviour against Chelsea. Now you recognise the situation that was so, so difficult for us.
“Now it is fair play. It’s so fair play. Nobody is against Tottenham and I think it is a competition, I feel it’s up to Chelsea, and then it’s up to us, or the teams behind us, I feel it’s fair play today.”
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