Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has had a dig at Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho by saying that the Portuguese would be complaining if he was Tottenham boss considering the amount of games they will play.
Tottenham have a busy few weeks before the Capital One Cup final as they have a potential make or break month where they face Arsenal, Liverpool and two legs against Fiorentina in the Europa League. To make matters worse, Chelsea will have an entire week’s rest before they face their London rivals in the finals, something that will definitely play a huge factor in the final.
Despite that, Pochettino said that playing in the Europa League has it’s consequences and cheekily had a dig at Mourinho, “Maybe if Jose were in my position now he would be complaining about the situation!”
“It is not fair to play a final on the Sunday after you play in another a finala in Florence on the Thursday. Chelsea play Burnley on the Saturday and then they have a clean week to prepare for the final.
“It is not fair but then we have to understand this is the competition. We are in the Europa League, the Capital One final and the Premier League.
“But it is no problem. We are strong. We believe in our way and will be sure to be ready for the final.”
Considering Tottenham are fighting for the top four spot and are in the knockout stages of the Europa League, every game is vital and Pochettino went on to underlined that fact, “We need to understand that thata s football. It is not the best situation, but we need to prepare every game like a final because we have important games in the mean time.
“We have a very tough game against Arsenal next week and then Fiorentina in London. Then West Ham and Florence after that. Then the final. It is football, we need to accept that and be ready for every game,” he added.
With Tottenham in a good position to challenge for the top four, Pochettino could play a weakened side against Fiorentina in both the legs. In addition, Pochettino’s men have already shown how to play against Mourinho’s side after demolishing them 5-3 on new years day, so the Argentine will be pretty confident that he’ll be able to outfox the Special One once again at Wembley, if his players will be in good shape that is.