Pochettino: Last season irrelevant to Leicester game



Missing out on the Premier League title last season will have no bearing on Tottenham Hotspur's state of mind when they meet champions Leicester at White Hart Lane on Saturday, manager Mauricio Pochettino said.
Having gone toe-to-toe with the Foxes last season before finishing third, fifth-placed Spurs remain the only unbeaten side in the top flight.
Back-to-back draws against Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion have halted their momentum but with Leicester also enduring an underwhelming start, both teams are yet to rediscover the consistency of last season's absorbing title race.
"It's a different year. It's a different game. It's a different season, different situation that happened," Pochettino told reporters on Friday.
"Today both teams are different. It's difficult to learn from a game that was completely different and different period.
"We need to learn every day and try to be better in every competition and in every game we play but I cannot tell you that we are learning from the game a few months ago."
With just one point separating the top five teams in the league, Pochettino said he expected the title race to go all the way until the final weekend of matches.
"There are a lot of clubs fighting to be top of the table. I think this season will be tough and competitive and maybe we need to wait till the last game to know which team lift the trophy at the end," Pochettino said.
"But it is good for us, it is good for the Premier League and it is good for football."
Pochettino said Toby Alderweireld and Harry Kane had yet to recover from their respective injuries and were unavailable to face Leicester.Hotspur continued their best start to a season for 26 years bymaintaining their unbeaten Premier League record but were made to work hard for their point by buoyant Bournemouth in a full-blooded 0-0 draw on Saturday.
Bournemouth, fresh from three successive league wins at Dean Court, took a leaf out of Spurs' famed pressing book to give as good as they got from the title contenders and were well worth the draw.
Bournemouth's intensity and resistance ensured Spurs missed a chance to provisionally go top of the table ahead of Manchester City and Arsenal but it could have been worse for the visitors if Hugo Lloris had not made a fine early save to thwart Charlie Daniels.
After Lloris had tipped his point-blank range shot against the bar, Spurs' best opportunity in a game high on energy and industry but low on chances came when Erik Lamela fired against the bar in the opening half.
Spurs manager Maurico Pochettino admitted it had been a tough afternoon for his team.
"They were very aggressive. It was a very competitive game, they were ready to compete...If we want to be contenders, we need to win games like these," the Argentine said.
Bournemouth had shipped eight goals in two fixtures against Spurs last year but inspired by tireless midfielder Harry Arter and shored up by committed defending, they did a fine job in shutting down the visitors amid the frantic fare.
Also playing a big part was Jack Wilshere, on loan at Bournemouth from Arsenal, who played his first full 90 minutes in a league match for two years with England's interim manager Gareth Southgate watching from the stands.
Eddie Howe, Bournemouth's highly-rated young manager, was delighted how his team had gone "toe-to-toe" with Spurs to win a really valuable point.
In a game of six bookings - four for Spurs, two for Bournemouth - the challenges flew in and Lamela may have counted himself fortunate at not receiving a second yellow for one foul.
Spurs substitute Moussa Sissoko also escaped punishment after he appeared to elbow Arter in the face in the second half and though the visitors applied most of the second-half pressure, Bournemouth could have nicked a late winner from Benik Afobe's header.

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