Speaking ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League Round of 16 second-leg clash against Borussia Dortmund, Mauricio Pochettino claimed that his side is ready to ‘dream’ again after Dortmund ‘accident’.
As confirmed by the official Tottenham website, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele remain doubtful for the fixture, while Jan Vertonghen and Clinton N’jie are expected to be back in training next week. Spurs manager Pochettino claims that the club is ready to dream about winning important things as the season enters its climactic stage.
He was quoted by the Guardian as saying: “Now we are in a moment where we can dream and think of everything. There are eight games to play and why can we not dream?”
Tottenham will be looking to overturn a three-goal deficit against a Dortmund side that haven’t lost a single fixture in twelve matches in all competitions. The Argentinian was eager to put the 3-0 defeat to the German side behind him, calling it an ‘accident’ as he looked forward to the rest of the season.
“Our mentality needs to be right,” said Pochettino. “We need to show that last Thursday was an accident. For me sometimes it is difficult but I accept the criticism – if you win you are a genius, if not you are a disaster.”
Alli returns, Eriksen and Dembele likely to be rested
Dele Alli will return to the Tottenham starting lineup after serving a one match suspension in the first leg of the Europa League tie. Heung-Min Son is expected to replace Christian Eriksen in the lineup, while Tom Carroll is also likely to feature against the German side.
All eyes on Harry Kane
Harry Kane will shoulder the responsibility to lead the team’s attack, as Spurs look to beat the odds in order to reach the quarter-finals of the Europa League. The striker remains key to Pochettino’s plans at Tottenham and will feature prominently in the weeks to come.
