Pochettino makes bold prediction about Tottenham’s prospects this season

Following his side’s win over Tottenham on Monday night, Mauricio Pochettino said that he expects the Lilywhites to compete for the Premier League title this season.

Before the London derby, Tottenham was the only team in the English top flight without a loss. Based on their play in the first half of the match, it appeared as though they would take back the top spot in the table and make a serious statement to the opposing teams.

Nevertheless, in the last fifteen minutes of the half, things went horribly wrong for Ange Postecoglou’s team as Cristian Romero was sent off for a tackle on Enzo Fernandez inside the box, and James Maddison and Micky van de Ven sustained injuries.

To compound matters, Destiny Udogie was given his marching orders at the start of the second period, but rather than shutting shop and defending with all nine men behind the ball, the Lilywhites continued to try and hurt their opponents.

   

Pochettino still thinks Spurs are title challengers

In the end, a flurry of late goals on the counter-attack saw Chelsea emerge with a comfortable 4-1 win and Pochettino believes that his side’s performance was particularly impressive as they came up against a team that he expects to compete for the title.

“Overall, I think we were better and deserved the win,” the Blues manager said to Viaplay. Our players deserve a great deal of credit for forcing them to make mistakes, sustain injuries, and consider that they were losing to a team that, in my opinion, would win the championship.

Perhaps a few Spurs supporters would have begun to dream of the impossibly easy victory over Chelsea.

But because of the injuries and suspensions, this game has been an absolute disaster for us.For a few weeks, we won’t be able to handle life without Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie, and Madison.