Mind the gap, Tottenham... Mauricio Pochettino must start taming Spurs' title rivals - starting with Man City

1/6
Jonathan Hunn23 January 2017

Statistics do not lie, and the uncomfortable truth for Mauricio Pochettino is that his Tottenham team have won just one away game against their main Premier League title rivals during his 30-month tenure.

Of the 13 away games Spurs have played against Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal since the Argentine took charge, last season’s 2-1 win at the Etihad is his only success.

The rest of the big six have better away records in the major clashes during that period.

Pochettino is well aware that if his free-flowing team are to be challenging for the title come May, those statistics need to change — ideally with another victory against City on Saturday.

"The most important is not the gap we can take [in the table]," said Pochettino.

Only win: 2-1 vs Man City (February 14, 2016)
AFP/Getty Images

"The most important thing will be our performance, to show we have improved and learned from last season.

"It will be a very tough game. It is too early to talk about decisive games.

"There are a lot of games ahead.

"For us, it is to try to show that we can be real contenders for the Premier League.

"That is the most important challenge.

Worst defeat: 4-1 vs Man City (October 18, 2014)
AFP/Getty Images

"It is more important to show ourselves that we can be a real contender.

"We need to show ourselves that we are capable of dealing with that pressure and achieve big things."

Pochettino needs those away-day blues against Spurs’s main rivals to disappear if he is to avoid another disappointing climax to the season.

London football! Follow Spurs vs Man City live with Standard Sport. Click here for more information.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in