Mauricio Pochettino: West Brom win shows Tottenham are ready to challenge

14 January 2017 21:53

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hailed his team's performance as Spurs equalled their Premier League club record of six consecutive wins with a 4-0 victory over West Brom on Saturday.

Harry Kane, who became a father for the first time last Sunday, hit a hat-trick with Gareth McAuley scoring an own goal as Spurs had a comfortable afternoon at White Hart Lane.

The win sees Tottenham move to second in the table with seven straight wins in all competitions, and Pochettino believes his side are much stronger than they were last season.

"The first 45 minutes was fantastic, it was wonderful football," he said.

"We can feel very happy with the performance, the players played very well against a very difficult team.

"I think after Chelsea it was a big challenge to keep the momentum and show that we are mature enough to fight for big things and today was a very good example of that.

"We need to move on and try to fight but now we have more belief. We are much better than last season.

"We are showing that we have learnt a lot from last season, we are more mature. Today we did not concede a goal."

Kane was the star of the show, opening the scoring after 12 minutes before two late goals in the space of six minutes completed his treble.

"I am very delighted for (Kane)," Pochettino added.

"It was very nice, a very good week for him. He is a dad and has scored three goals today. I think it was a good way to finish the week for him."

The 23-year-old England striker told Sky Sports the win was Spurs' best display of the season.

"We were outstanding today," he said. "I'd say that would probably be our best performance of the season. We could've scored a lot more if it wasn't for Ben (Foster) in goal - he made some unbelievable saves.

"We wanted to keep our streak going, and we've done that."

Kane was told after the game he had become the quickest Spurs player to reach 60 Premier League goals.

"That's fantastic," he said. "I don't look at records too much - I just try to go out there and play and score for my team, win for my team. It's a fantastic day all round."

The new father added: "It's amazing. The week has been a bit of a whirlwind, obviously having a little daughter - just amazing, the whole week, and to finish it off like this is the best way possible."

Spurs' win was overshadowed by an injury for defender Jan Vertonghen, who was forced off just after the hour mark.

Pochettino said: "It looks very bad. We feel very disappointed, it is a situation you never like to happen.

"It looks very bad but we need to wait a little bit, tomorrow or Monday we will be able to assess it better. His ankle is badly (swollen)."

The Baggies had not lost at White Hart Lane since 2012 but failed to make an impact in the early kick-off, with Tony Pulis conceding his side were not up to beating a Tottenham side fighting for the Premier League title.

He said: "When you come here you have to be 100 per cent on it, physically and mentally and we weren't.

"When you play against such a good team like Tottenham they punish you.

"I am taking nothing away from the players. They have been nothing but brilliant this year, we have given everyone a game but today we were off it and they punished us.

"They deserve all the credit.

"I said at half-time that if we scored a goal at any time in the second half then there is pressure on them but that third goal was one of four really poor goals we conceded and that just killed the game for us."

Source: PA