Four years ago, Tottenham Hotspur sacked Mauricio Pochettino. The London club’s most successful manager of recent eras departed after a dismal start to the 2019/20 campaign. Spurs sat 14th in the Premier League table at the time. In the season prior, Pochettino led Tottenham to the UEFA Champions League Final, where it lost to Liverpool.
Now, the Argentine manager is the boss at a different London club, Chelsea. Speaking ahead of the Blues’ trip to north London, Pochettino did not say the door was closed on a return to the club where he had such relative success.
“It’s like life, you never know what is going to happen tomorrow,” Pochettino said. “We need to enjoy today and not look too much in the future. But, for sure, if I’m not working, [and] maybe if they want me one day … why not?”
Pochettino affirmed his love for Tottenham. He said impending jeers from Tottenham supporters will not damage his ’emotional links and feelings’ to the club. During his time with Tottenham, Pochettino regularly said it was his dream to win a trophy with Tottenham. He came close on several occasions, but Daniel Levy and the Spurs brass sacked him before that moment.
Despite that love, Pochettino is committed to Chelsea. He will put aside that passion for his previous employers on Monday as he goes for a positive result.
“I want to win, I want to beat them,” he said. Pochettino will not mistakenly go to the wrong dugout, either. “I know very well the away dugout because I decided where it was. I was there with the architects; when you go to the right it is the local, and the away is to the left.”
In the seasons prior to Pochettino exiting Tottenham, Spurs finished fifth, third, second, third and fourth. The runner-up finish to Chelsea in 2016/17 was Tottenham’s best finish since 1962/63. Pochettino also led the club to a runner-up finish in the 2015 League Cup Final. Ironically, it lost to Chelsea in that game.
Pochettino is now in charge of Chelsea, while Ange Postecoglou is putting together a sensational season with Tottenham in his first campaign. Chelsea sits 13th in the Premier League table entering this fixture at Tottenham. Despite all the spending Todd Boehly has put out, the lack of cohesion in a young squad has been its demise. Most recently, Chelsea fell to Brentford at Stamford Bridge.
By comparison, Ange Postecoglou has Spurs second in the table. A win or a draw against Pochettino’s Chelsea sends Spurs back to the top of the table. Spurs drew against Brentford and Arsenal on the road as its only two blemishes this season. Therefore, Tottenham has not lost a game at home this season.
After Tottenham sacked Antonio Conte last season, the vacant position had several rumors. Julian Nagelsmann, Arne Slot and Xabi Alonso were all in the running. The same applied to Pochettino before Spurs settled on Postecoglou. At the time, the Argentine coach was open to return to Tottenham and lead the side.
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