Arsenal host Spurs in the north London derby later today, as Mauricio Pochettino’s men look to bounce back from successive defeats against Burnley and Chelsea.
Pochettino’s inability to win a trophy in his five years with Tottenham has left many questioning his silverware credentials.
But in that time, the Argentine has turned Tottenham into a consistent Champions League team, while managing the club through a stadium move which will be complete by the end of the season.
Pochettino also hasn’t been afforded the luxury of spending money in the transfer market that clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea have.
And on the club’s current state, Pochettino was quick to point out that he might not be the man Spurs are looking for if their immediate goal is to win a Premier League title.
“Maybe if [club chairman] Daniel [Levy] said to me next season, ‘We need to win a title. We need to win the Champions League and we need to win the Premier League’ then maybe I say, ‘Maybe you need to find another magic guy that can do this’,” Pochettino said.
“If we’re not going to change the way we operate, I think we can be there? Yes. We’re going to fight? Yes. We’re going to find the way to be competitive? Of course.
“But you cannot put a gun here [to my head] and say, ‘We need to win’ if we’re not fighting with the same tools as another team.
“I hear people say, ‘Pochettino is there for five years and didn’t win.’ Of course I didn’t win but, for me, what we’re doing here is more than winning a title.
“The job that the club’s doing is fantastic because in this moment with Brexit, with the position of the pound with Europe, I think it increases by 30 or 40 per cent the cost of building the new stadium.
“To be in the top four, to play in the Champions League, that was a dream five years ago, to arrive to the new stadium in a very good condition.
“I think that’s more than winning a title, more than winning a Carabao Cup. We’re talking about bigger things than winning a trophy.
“Of course I’d like to win a trophy. I would like to feel, to lift, some trophy, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, the Premier League, the Champions League. But the responsibility of the club is massive, eh?
“You need to be sure that you survive and are for the next few years sure that you pay the salaries of the players, the manager, the groundsman, the banks and everything. And that’s very tough work for the club.”
Spurs will be looking to avenge their north London derby defeat from earlier in the season against Arsenal at the Emirates, when the fierce rivals meet at Wembley later on.
Pochettino’s men succumbed to a 4-2 defeat thanks to an inspiring Gunners performance that saw Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang score a brace, Lucas Torreria notch his first league goal and Alexandre Lacazette getting in on the act too.
