Ben Guest
Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino is expecting Saturday’s eagerly anticipated North London derby clash against Arsenal to be a ‘very tough game’.
Just one week ago, people were discussing the possibility of Spurs making a challenge for the title, with last Saturday’s game against Burnley offering them the chance to move to within two points of the Premier League summit.
However, a 2-1 defeat at the home of the Clarets before a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in midweek has seen Mauricio Pochettino’s men fall nine points adrift of Liverpool, but only four points ahead of their North London rivals and Saturday’s opponents, Arsenal.
Speaking ahead of the weekend’s Wembley encounter, Spurs Argentine manager said that his side are expecting yet another tough game.
“We know very well what it means to play against Arsenal. We know that we’re going to be very motivated and we’ll have a team that is very motivated too,” Pochettino said in his pre-match press conference.
“They have very good players, they are doing a very good job. Unai Emery is a great manager, of course it’s going to be tough.
“Derbies are always tough, after my experience here in nearly five years, every time that we played against Arsenal it was a very tough game.”
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