Spurs Fans Proved Size Of Club – Mauricio Pochettino Hails Supporters

More than anything, this is a part of Tottenham’s game that has been missed since Toby Alderweireld was sidelined with an injury.

“The Europa League is a flawless competition for Tottenham to compete at the highest level and hopefully go through to the final or as far as possible”, he said.

Goals from Dele Alli and Harry Kane got Mauricio Pochettino’s men back on course heading into the interval before CSKA keeper Igor Akinfeev inadvertently kicked Alli’s header into his own net to seal it.

They will need at least a point from this game to keep their place in the Europa League intact and the manager is expected to field a fairly strong lineup for this game.

The 23-year-old, last season’s top scorer who has been linked regularly to United in transfer speculation, is back in risky form having gone five league games without a goal at the end of last season and the start of the current campaign. “It is about fitness and how we assess him”.

He said: “I think the Europa League is very important going forward, it is a great competition”.

“It’s very important that we could recover”. They lost 5-1 on aggregate, Pochettino was relieved and Spurs focussed on a title challenge. It’s an important period we have ahead.

“Can we win it?”

Spurs and particularly Alli have had a plethora of chances to find the net in the first half.

The midfielder was unlucky not to bag a second after Akinfeev saved his close-range header, only to scoop the rebound over his own line with a trailing leg. They are now third in Group E with 4 points.

The victor of this match will progress to the Europa League as the third-place side, although that might be more of a curse than a blessing, especially for the Spurs. It’s a good opportunity to win a trophy. “It’s a shame it’s not in the Champions League this year but we are one of the better teams in the Europa League and now we have to show it”, he said.

CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky, who had been in control of the Russian club since 2009, announced on Tuesday that the game at Wembley would be his last in charge but he was not interested in talking about his departure.

“And then for the squad to be involved in different competitions. Paul Mitchell is still working for us, and it is a normal process to find another person who can cope with his job in the future”. “In every competition we play we can win”. Eriksen did find the net twice in an EFL Cup demolition of Gillingham, but it was unusual to see such a consistent performer lose his way in the games that mattered.

Pochettino believes the win changed the “bad feeling” at the ground.