Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has shot down his team’s struggles against breaking a nine-men Tottenham Hotspur side during their Premier League encounter on Monday (Nov 6). 

Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!

Speaking to reporters after the match, Pochettino recalled the Liverpool vs Tottenham game from September where the Merseyside team was also reduced to nine-man and nearly walked away with a victory, if it wasn’t for a wrongly chalked-out goal by VAR and an own goal from Joel Matip. 

“I think you are wrong. If you watch Tottenham versus Liverpool, they (Spurs) scored in the last minute. It’s never easy [against a team with] two players sent off,” said Pochettino. 

ALSO READ | Football: Spain’s Jenni Hermoso hopes for positive change following kiss controversy

“It’s difficult now to talk about tactics but most important is the 4-1 win and three points. I think we deserved to win. We forced them to make too many mistakes,” he added. 

While Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota were sent off in the Liverpool game, the home side on Monday was left without the services of Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie. 

Spurs started the game by seizing the advantage in the sixth minute via a deflected goal from Dejan Kulusevski. However, that was to be the only positive for the London-based team as Chelsea dominated from thereon. 

“Tottenham was better in the first 15 minutes and then I think we bossed the game, our performance was good and forced them into making mistakes. If you look at everything you could see during the game, I think it was fair. It could be an important three points for us, to help us now start to push up the table.”

Chelsea vs Spurs high press

Despite having the lion’s share of possession and the numerical advantage, Chelsea found it difficult to beat the high-press set by Ange Postecoglou. Pochettino’s strikers repeatedly strayed offside and it wasn’t until the 75th minute that the Blues finally managed to beat the suicidal Spurs trap. 

Nicolas Jackson hit a hattrick to complete the victory and take Chelsea to the 10th spot in the points table. Meanwhile, the loss meant that Spurs ceded their top position to Manchester City. 

While the loss may have stung Postecoglou’s men, it is the absence of Romero, Udogie and perhaps James Maddison and Micky van de Ven in the upcoming matches that will trouble them more. With the match against City scheduled after the international break, Spurs would hope that its bench strength could carry the momentum gained since the beginning of the season.  

You can now write for Baazigarnews.com and be a part of the Baazigar family. Share your stories and opinions with us here.