Mauricio Pochettino says ‘the world tried to kill Tottenham last season’

Mauricio Pochettino feels his Tottenham Hotspur players have a sharper focus on their Premier League title challenge, in marked contrast to last season when “all the world tried to kill” them and will Leicester City to their fairytale triumph.

The manager watched his team ramp up the pressure on the leaders, Chelsea, with a 4-0 dismissal of Bournemouth at White Hart Lane. It moved them to within four points of Chelsea, although they have played one game more. Antonio Conte’s side visit Manchester United on Sunday.

Pochettino talked afterwards of how Tottenham had expended a lot of negative energy during last season’s title run-in, when it was not just Leicester they were battling. The Spurs manager felt that it was everybody else, too – including opponents who had been seduced by the Leicester story and wanted Claudio Ranieri’s underdogs to win the title.

Pochettino said pointedly that it was “fair play” in the fight with Chelsea this time and his players were clearer about what was required to push to the end in the title battle. Tottenham ended up drawing two and losing two of their final four matches last season to finish below not only the champions, Leicester, but also – for the 21st season in a row – their north London neighbours, Arsenal.

Pochettino had watched Ranieri on Sky last Monday night, when the manager who led Leicester to the title was the guest for the Crystal Palace versus Arsenal game, and he was particularly interested to hear him mention the goodwill Leicester had felt last season. “It was good if you heard before Palace-Arsenal from Ranieri,” Pochettino said. “We recognised that the world was, for us, trying to help Leicester.

“When I told you that last season, maybe you thought: ‘This guy is a little bit crazy.’ But now that you hear from him, I think you can put [yourself] in my position and the players’ position. It was so, so difficult because the team that all the world tried to kill was Tottenham in second place. It was impossible to understand why. It was very good to hear that comment from Ranieri because it means a lot. It means a lot.”

The Italian’s side won the championship on a night when they were not even playing, thanks to Chelsea fighting back to draw from 2-0 down at home in Spurs’ third last match on an ill-tempered evening at Stamford Bridge.

Pochettino, who saw goals from Mousa Dembélé, Son Heung-min, Harry Kane and Vincent Janssen see off Bournemouth, added: “Leicester fully deserved the title but now, I think you understand more our behaviour against Chelsea. Now, you recognise that the situation was so, so difficult for us.

“We learned a lot from last season. There was a very bad period at the end when we spent a lot of energy fighting against Leicester but also against West Bromwich, against Chelsea, against the media, against the people.

“We fought against everyone and we spent a lot of energy. But now we are focused on fighting only our opponent when we play. Now, it is fair play. It’s so fair play. Nobody is against Tottenham and I think it is a [fair] competition. I feel it’s up to Chelsea and then, it’s up to us or the teams behind us. I feel it’s fair play today.”

Tottenham more often than not played their match after Leicester at the end of last season but on Saturday they were able to win and put the pressure on Chelsea – as they had done last Saturday, when they cruised past Watford before Chelsea went to Bournemouth in the late game and won.

“If you win like we have done today, it’s a big thing for you to put pressure on your opponent,” Pochettino said. “Last season, we never had the possibility to play before Leicester. Our job was to get the three points and now, if Chelsea fail, we will be there. The pressure is now on Chelsea to try to win at Old Trafford and it’s sure that it will be a very tough game for them.

“If they don’t get any points, it would be fantastic but Chelsea would still be the favourites to win the title. Four points is still a lot.”