Harry Kane delighted to salvage FA Cup replay for Tottenham Hotspur

A loss to Leicester would not have been great in terms of keeping up Tottenham’s momentum, but it would have drastically reduced the potential pressure put on Pochettino and his player’s shoulders over the next few weeks.

Manager Claudio Ranieri has done wonders with Leicester this season, but he’s still a bit wary of the Spurs going into today’s big FA Cup tie. Vardy, the joint-leading scorer in the Barclays Premier League, required surgery to fix a long-standing problem and went under the knife this week.

With clubs like Crystal Palace and West Ham United also challenging the established English hierarchy Ranieri said it was an exciting time for English football. “Today (Thursday) Jamie is working with the physio and he should be okay for the league game (against Tottenham). If not – Aston Villa”.

Spurs are expected to field a strong line-up against “tinker-man” Claudio Ranieri, who is expected to ring wholesale changes to the Leicester City XI. Their squad is fantastic. It is tough for us and tough for them [Leicester]. “They have quality enough to play”. “They have a good mix of young and old”.

He the club’s official website: “We’re devastated not to get the win”.

“If we are in this position after the first half of the season, it is because the players believe, and the feel they can beat any team”.

Mauricio Pochettino has regularly been quoted talking about the possibility of signing one or two new players, particularly to provide a little more support to Kane up front. We have to improve a lot.

“We need to fix some things because we made mistakes and conceded goals – we’re in a period where every mistake [we make] is conceding a goal”.

Vardy, who turned 29 on Monday, underwent a minor groin operation last week and missed Sunday’s FA Cup trip to White Hart Lane. It will be a blend of players. The mentality does not change. We go to win.

“Southampton started with the Pochettino era didn’t they?”

Following several public bids for West Brom’s Saido Berahino, who has again been linked with a move to White Hart Lane this month, Pochettino said he “didn’t accept at all” the suggestion that Spurs were starting the season with one centre-forward.

“In the end, we were very pleased”. Of course he wasn’t 100 per cent, but if you think he’s 19 years-old, only four training sessions with us, the first match in the Premier League – it was the FA Cup, but it was a Premier League team, he was outstanding for me.