Tottenham vs Chelsea: Mauricio Pochettino challenges players to push for title following rousing victory

Mauricio Pochettino challenged his Tottenham players to keep their intensity and keep pushing up the table after they ended Chelsea’s winning streak and climbed up to third. Spurs delivered their best performance of the season to beat Chelsea 2-0, a display which made them look like title challengers again. That is the tag that Antonio Conte gave them afterwards and Pochettino told his players to believe they could improve on their third-placed finish last year.

“Our performance today showed that we can be competitive and we can achieve big things,” said Pochettino afterwards. “But it's true it's only one game. We need to be consistent over the whole season. We are happy with the victory but it's only three points. And we still have a lot of things to do.”

Spurs often play brilliantly in December and January before dropping their level in March and April. Pochettino told his players that this season they have to keep up their intensity as they push for trophies in the second half of the season.

“To keep the intensity is always the challenge,” Pochettino said. “If we want to fight at the end of the season for big things, to lift trophies, you need to keep that intensity always. “

Tottenham are now just seven points behind Chelsea, and are even ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City. A season that looked like it would be about trying to scrape fourth could now turn into something more positive for them.

“It was important for us to reduce the gap,” he said. “The top four is very competitive, very close. It was perfect for us to arrive in the third place, and to be close. That is important for us. And there are a lot of games to come before the end of the season. Anything can happen in football.”

Before this season Pochettino said that Spurs’ last step to take was in their head, and he praised their mentality in holding onto their lead in such a difficult, emotive game. This was precisely the improvement he was hoping for from his team.

“We are very pleased because the most important thing for us was to show great character and to be very competitive,” Pochettino explained. “Maybe that was the problem last season, we could not compete in a better way. That means playing and suffering against a good team like Chelsea.”

This evening Spurs showed they could do exactly what Pochettino demanded from them. “For me, what it means to be competitive is like today. It is working hard, suffering, fighting, and sometimes letting the opposition have the ball. In that moment you have to work hard and be strong in your mind. That made us pleased and proud. Today we showed what it means to be competitive.”

Conte was disappointed that Chelsea’s winning streak was over but hailed Spurs as potential champions after the game. “Today we lost to a very good team,” Conte said. “Don’t forget that Tottenham fought last season to win the title and Pochettino has been working with this team for many years. Tottenham is one of the six teams that can fight until the end to win the title or find a place in the Champions League.”

Conte hoped the defeat would push his league-leaders to keep improving. “We have to restart, to continue to work,” he said. “It could be a good test for us. After a defeat it’s always very difficult to know your reaction. We showed we’re a team and this is very important for me. We tried to fight, we tried to win the game. I saw the right will in my players. My methods and ideas don’t change if we lose a game. My priority is to come and win.”