Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has insisted his tactics against Chelsea won’t be the key element in their match on Tuesday.
Spurs host the Blues in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Wembley with both sides just two matches away from reaching next month’s final.
Can Spurs get past Chelsea? Five things you need to know…
- Spurs have beaten three Premier League teams to get to the League Cup semi-finals, overcoming Watford, West Ham United and Arsenal en-route.
- Meanwhile the Blues have defeated Liverpool at Anfield, a tough Derby County side and AFC Bournemouth to reach the final four.
- Pochettino’s side have scored 24 goals in the last six matches and have only lost twice in the past 17 games across all competitions.
- Maurizio Sarri’s squad have struggled for goals in recent weeks, netting just 13 goals in 10 matches in all competitions.
- The winner across the two legs will face either Manchester City or League One surprise package Burton Albion in the final.
Pochettino spoke to reporters about Tuesday’s fixture against their London rivals, with this competition a real chance for both sides to get their hands on a trophy this season.
Talking in-depth about the major influences of the match, Pochettino insisted his side’s tactics would not be particularly important considering Chelsea know how Tottenham like to play.
When asked about his tactical approach, Pochettino told Spurs TV: “It’s not going to be the key, the tactics.
“Chelsea know how we play, we know how they play. It’s more about our performance and in 180 minutes we need to deserve to go through to the final.
“We know that tactics are secondary. The most important thing is the way we approach the game, our mentality… we need to fight for every ball.”
“It’ll be tough”
Pochettino continued to discuss the importance of the fixture and how it is just as worthy as any games Spurs play in the Premier League, Champions League or FA Cup.
He added: “The approach is always to play in the same way and try to win the game. Every single game we play in the Premier League, Champions League or cups is always about scoring goals and not conceding.
“This is the same. It’s so important how we are going to approach it. The most important thing is that we understand the tie over two legs, 180 minutes. It will be tough because Chelsea are a great team and this is a semi-final, so both teams are going to push to try to win.”
Spurs haven’t won a trophy since 2007/08 when they won this very competition – coincidently beating Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley – with goals from Dimitar Berbatov and Jonathan Woodgate enough to secure the win under Juande Ramos.
The post Pochettino: Tactics aren’t the key to beating Chelsea appeared first on Squawka News.
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