Tottenham Hotspur: Play with a rugby team spirit, Mauricio Pochettino tells

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino played down the significance of his side’s start to the Premier League season after their 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Monday. Mousa Dembele fired Tottenham ahead after only three minutes and Dele Alli made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time. Villa surprisingly pulled one back when Jordan Ayew’s 79th minute shot was deflected but a fine strike from Harry Kane in stoppage time made sure of the win for Spurs.

“In football it is always day by day”.

Tottenham’s second goalscorer on Monday evening – in front of Roy Hodgson – was the talented Dele Alli, 19, who is expected to be included in the next England squad for their upcoming friendly fixtures with France and Spain. “You want to play for your country but we need to speak a little bit to arrive at the best deal for him, his country and for us”. It is always up to them.

A big part of it is he seems to have given all the players a positive mindset, even the ones who don’t play every week.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane says man-of-the-moment Dele Alli is not only a great player but a great person as well.

There was a period of uncertainty because of the influx of players following the £85m sale of Gareth Bale in 2013 but Pochettino has been brilliant at recovering from that unrest since he took charge in May 2014.

Pochettino’s side remain unbeaten in the Premier League since the opening day of the season, with the win taking them up to fifth in the table.

But the Argentinean has urged his players to immediately shift the focus to Thursday’s Europa League game against Anderlecht.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino said: “In football you must never lose your focus and maybe we lost our position on the pitch late on because our mentality was to go forward. We are a young team and today was fantastic”.

Villa have now made their worst ever start after 11 matches of a top-flight season and Garde’s first game in charge comes at home to league leaders Manchester City on Sunday.

The Belgium defender confessed that Alli was an unknown quantity to him at the start of the season, but has been left impressed by his talent.

“There’s things for him to work with”, MacDonald said.

We would all keep grafting, no matter what the score was and I think because of our history of comebacks, especially at the Emirates, we knew we had a chance and they knew we could do it.