Mauricio Pochettino has said he continues to be bothered by how Tottenham Hotspur contrived to finish below Arsenal last season, as he weighed up a couple of key selection decisions for Sunday’s derby at the Emirates Stadium.
The Tottenham manager said Harry Kane, who has not played since the middle of September because of ankle ligament damage, will return to the squad and he gave the striker a 50-50 chance of making the starting lineup.
In midfield, Mousa Dembélé is a doubt after twisting an ankle in the 1-0 Champions League home defeat by Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley on Wednesday and if he fails to prove his fitness Pochettino will consider handing the 20-year-old Harry Winks a first start in the Premier League.
Pochettino said at the beginning of the season he had been angry all summer about the way Spurs had finished the previous campaign. Their title hopes ended with the 2-2 draw at Chelsea in the third-last game but they were still three points clear of Arsenal in second place.
Tottenham have not finished above Arsenal since 1994-95 and it would have meant something to break the sequence, but they lost 2-1 at home to Southampton and then, needing a point on the final day to secure a runners-up finish behind Leicester City, they were thrashed 5-1 at relegated Newcastle United. Arsenal beat Aston Villa 4-0 to leapfrog them and maintain Arsène Wenger’s record of never finishing below Spurs.
“I still feel bad about last season,” Pochettino said. “It was so easy to be above Arsenal in that moment. It’s true we felt very disappointed after the Chelsea game, but two games ahead and only one point to be above them [on the final day] – that was very frustrating and disappointing. It was difficult not to think about that situation. But we have another opportunity now and we will see what happens.”
Pochettino has won one and drawn three of his four league derbies against Arsenal – he lost to them in last season’s Capital One Cup – and his mind went back to the first of them when Winks was discussed. In September 2014, after Dembélé had been ruled out of the visit to the Emirates, Pochettino decided to start with Ryan Mason, then 23 years old. It was his debut in the Premier League and he played well in the 1-1 draw.
Pochettino has never been afraid to put his trust in young players – even in high‑pressure games – and Winks is the one who has impressed him the most this season; more than Cameron Carter-Vickers and Josh Onomah. Pochettino was delighted with some of Winks’s performances in pre-season and he has since introduced him as a late substitute in three league matches.
Winks started both of the club’s EFL Cup ties – the first the 5-0 home win against Gillingham and the second the 2-1 loss at Liverpool – and there was a further show of faith in him during the Leverkusen defeat. After Tottenham had conceded after 65 minutes at Wembley, Pochettino brought on Winks for Christian Eriksen as he chased the game.
There is the feeling that with Tottenham at a low ebb after Leverkusen – they have not won in six games – the manager may benefit from shaking up the team. Could Winks, whom Pochettino prefers in a deeper-sitting role, be a solution in the starting XI? “Maybe,” Pochettino said. “We need to assess Dembélé, first of all, to decide but Winks is doing very well – not only against Leverkusen but Liverpool in the cup, before.
“From pre-season, you remember in Australia, he played very well against Atlético Madrid and Juventus. In that moment he started to build his future and I started to see we can trust in him. This is very good news for us.”
Pochettino was reminded of the parallel with Mason in the derby at the Emirates. “Maybe we will repeat that,” he said. “It’s a coincidence, because there were different reasons [with Mason] but, maybe, Winks has the opportunity to play. It’s one of the possibilities.”
Kane has long been pencilled in to make his comeback in the derby and earlier this week Pochettino suggested it was more than likely the striker would be a substitute. He has now raised the prospect of him starting – after Kane made a positive return to full training on Thursday.
“It is true that on Wednesday I was positive but not very, but after Thursday I am more positive,” Pochettino said. “Will he start? It’s 50-50.”
