Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he told his Tottenham Hotspur players that it would be tough to be get a result at Stoke City ahead of their 2-1 win on Saturday afternoon.
Tottenham dominated the ball from the first minute, but the first real chance fell to Stoke when Erik Pieters' low cross was met by Mame Biram Diouf, who couldn’t keep the ball on target and spurned a golden opportunity to put the home side ahead.
However, Spurs got their act together and it took some goalkeeping heroics from Jack Butland to keep the away side at bay as he came out to block a shot from Heung-Min Son’s shot when the South Korean found himself clean through on the goal.
Tottenham continued to enjoy the ball in the first half but struggled to create many clear cut chances after Son missed a huge opportunity to score.
However, the second half saw a flurry of action and Spurs took the lead in the 52nd minute when Dele Alli’s pass found Christian Eriksen inside the box, and he steered the ball past Butland, into his goal.
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Stoke hit back just five minutes later following a goalkeeping error from Hugo Lloris whose clearance hit Diouf and the ball fell for the Potters striker, who rolled into the net to equalise for the home side.
However, the action didn’t stop there as Spurs again took the lead just after the hour mark when Eriksen’s whipped free kick found the slightest of touches from Harry Kane to nestle into the back of Butland’s net to retake the lead for Tottenham.
Stoke continued to battle on and were desperately unlucky not to equalise when Xherdan Shaqiri’s effort hit the woodwork at the start of the final ten minutes.
The Potters did put the Spurs defence under the cosh towards the end as eight minutes were added on after normal time, but Pochettino’s men managed to hold on to the three points.
Pochettino was happy with a solid performance from his side and admits he and his side expected a tough game from Stoke as the Potters are fighting for every point to survive in the Premier League.
He believes the win has put his side in a nice position to finish the season well and further consolidate their top four credentials.
The Spurs boss told the BBC: “It was a very good performance, very solid. I told them it would be tough as they are playing to survive.
“In the second-half we were more clinical but we are disappointed we conceded so quickly after scoring.
"The team kept pushing with the right mentality, to fight for every ball.
"It has put us in a very good position in the table.
“Our target is to finish in the top four, possibly second, which is better than third or fourth.”
Tottenham will next host Pep Guardiola’s runaway league leaders at Wembley.
