Tottenham Hotspur may be playing to keep their place near the top of the Premier League table on Monday, but most of the focus will be on visiting Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino in his first return to Spurs since departing the club.
Pochettino has gotten mixed results in his first season with Chelsea (3-4-3, 12 points), and at times the quality of play appears to have improved without a similar improvement in results.
Finding production at center forward remains a problem, with winger Raheem Sterling leading the Blues with three league goals.
Pochettino enjoyed far more success than failure during five seasons managing Spurs, leading the North Londoners to regular top-four finishes and within a match of their first European trophy in 35 years in 2019 by reaching their first UEFA Champions League final.
But when things soured, they did so quickly, and by November 2019, Pochettino had been fired amid substantial turmoil. And it’s an open question just how the Argentine will be received by his former supporters.
“I’m not going to say anything at the moment because until Monday we cannot guess,” Pochettino said of the potential reception. “The most important (thing) is people know we cannot forget what we lived together. Amazing memories and then I’m going to respect the people, how they’re going to express. It won’t change my emotions, my view, my feelings about a club where we spent an unbelievable journey.”
It will help that Tottenham fans feel as good about their club as at any time since Pochettino’s departure. First-year boss Ange Postecoglou had Spurs (8-0-2, 26 points) in second entering the weekend, a point behind Manchester City. After Arsenal’s loss at Newcastle on Saturday, Tottenham are the only remaining unbeaten Premier League side.
Son Heung-min’s eight goals have helped Spurs overcome the departure of all-time club leading scorer Harry Kane to Bayern Munich this summer. And Postecoglou’s squad remains perfect at home, having only dropped points in draws at Brentford and Arsenal.
Even so, the Australian says Pochettino’s previous impact looms large.
“Everyone I speak to around here, there are still people who worked with him, they can’t speak highly enough of him as a person and as a manager,” Postecoglou said. “I doubt there will be anything but respect for Mauricio from anyone at this football club, supporters or people associated, but it doesn’t mean he will get a guard of honor on Monday night because we want to win.”
–Field Level Media
