Mauricio Pochettino says Wednesday’s superb victory over Chelsea proves Tottenham can challenge for the Premier League title but he warned they must be more consistent to be champions.
Two headed goals from Dele Alli — the second a carbon copy of the first — either side of half-time gave Spurs a deserved win, and ended Chelsea’s 13-game winning streak and hopes of setting a new Premier League record for consecutive wins.
While the Blues still have a five-point cushion at the top of the table, there is now just 10 points between the top four, and Pochettino believes Spurs are in another title race.
“Today showed we can be competitive and achieve big things,” he told a postmatch news conference. “It’s only one game, we need to show to be regular and consistent over the whole season. we’re happy for the victory but in the end it’s only three points and there’s is more to do — that is always a challenge.
“If we want to fight until the end of the season, to lift trophies, we need to keep that intensity.”
Spurs challenged Leicester for the league title last season but eventually finished third, 11 points behind the Foxes. However Pochettino believes his side are mentally stronger this season.
“We are very pleased because for me the most important thing was to show great character,” he added. “We were very competitive, maybe that was the problem last season — we missed competing in the better way.
“What does it mean to be competitive? To play, like today, to suffer against one of the best teams in Europe. It was a very solid performance. For that, it made me very proud of the players.
“It was tough last season to explain why we didn’t win the title at the end. In different games, we missed being as competitive as today. What it means to be competitive is like today — to work hard, to compete, to suffer, to fight. Sometimes you need to give the ball to them — they push you and you need to be strong in your mind. Today we started what it means to be competitive.
“I think now the top four is very competitive, very close. The gap is still important for Chelsea but it was important for us to arrive to third. There are a lot of games until the end of the season and everything can happen in football.”
Asked about Alli, who now has seven goals in his last four appearances, Pochettino said: “Dele was clinical in front of the goal. He was great. He is one of the best English talents that appear in the last year-and-a-half and he is showing big talent and potential.
“But not only him — we can talk about Harry Kane, Eric Dier — different players, young players. But it’s not only Dele — many English young players.”
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