Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Spurs players must show themselves they can win the title - Pochettino

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has said a win at Manchester City on Saturday would prove his players can cope with the pressure of the title race.

Spurs can set a new club record for consecutive victories with a seventh in succession and would move six points clear of City if they do so.

At the start of the season, Pochettino said the only barrier his young squad needed to overcome to win the title was in their heads.

And speaking at a news conference ahead of the City game, he told reporters: "For us, that is the most important challenge.

"It's more important for us to show ourselves that we can be a real contender than to show Manchester City.

"We need to show ourselves that we can deal with the pressure, win games and challenge for big things.

"The most important thing will be our performance -- to show we improved a lot and learned from last season."

Pochettino stressed that his team would face "a very tough game" but said it was too early "to start to talk about decisive games."

City boss Pep Guardiola is under scrutiny after the 4-0 loss at Everton -- his worst league defeat as a manager -- left City 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.

But Pochettino warned: "They are only three points behind us. There are a lot of games and competitions ahead.

"The judgement is always at the end and it's impossible now to judge their performance on half a season.

"Guardiola is a great manager. For me, he is one of the best managers in the world."

Spurs will be without Jan Vertonghen, who suffered ankle ligament damage against West Brom last weekend, but Pochettino said the injury was not as bad as first feared.

"Jan is OK, he's very positive," he added. "We are pushing him a lot.

"We expect six weeks [out] -- less than was our idea in the first moment. I don't want to set a time limit, but I think it's positive."

Meanwhile, Erik Lamela will have a scan on on a persistent hip problem and the manager said: "There are still some problems and we need to wait for the diagnostics.

"It's true we are now starting to become concerned about him. It's now more than three months and the situation has not moved on."

Friday marks exactly four years since Pochettino arrived in England as Southampton manager, and he said: "It's been an amazing time for me -- I have learned a lot.

"I am very thankful to England and to the Premier League, to the people here, because I think you helped me improve myself. It was a big step forward for my career and personality."

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