Pochettino stresses need for first Tottenham win

Mauricio Pochettino insists his Tottenham side are performing well enough to be winning games – even though they remain without a victory ahead of Sunday’s trip to Sunderland.
Spurs have drawn their last three Premier League games having started the season with defeat at Manchester United, with Harry Kane yet to score a goal so far.
However, they travel to the Stadium of Light with new signings Son Heung-min and Clinton N’Jie in contention to make their debuts and with Kane having scored twice on international duty with England.
Pochettino, who is still without injured play-maker Christian Eriksen, believes Spurs having been slowly improving and they now need to top that off with a first win of the campaign.
“It is important,” he said of the need to take three points off Sunderland.
“Always when Tottenham play it is important to win. We need to start to win the games because our performances have been good but in football it is all about the results.
“I think against Everton we competed much better than we did against Leicester and Stoke City. I think that we improve our level of focus during the game and now we need to follow in the same way. We have the quality to win the game.”
Defender Kyle Walker echoed the opinions of his manager and is hopeful that victory in the north-east can give Spurs the foundation to hit a good run of form.
“If we keep playing how we’ve been playing, the results will come,” he said.
“If we get one win, we’ll get on a roll. It’s all about momentum and confidence and as soon as we get that, we’ll be flying. They haven’t had the best of starts but we know they still have quality throughout that squad.”
Two Sunderland players who will be looking to impress and guide Dick Advocaat’s side to victory are former Tottenham pair Jermain Defoe and Younes Kaboul.
Defoe was a firm fans’ favourite during two spells at White Hart Lane while Kaboul was one of Pochettino’s vice-captains last year, and Walker expects both to put in a shift.
“We all know what Jermain Defoe can do in and around the box,” he said.
“We’ll have to be switched on throughout. Younes Kaboul has just gone there as well. He was a fantastic servant to the club and taught me a lot when I first arrived, so I always be thankful for that.
“It will be tough but if we stick to our game plan and what we’ve been working on this week there is no reason why we can’t go there and get the three points.
“I think it will be an exciting game. We always want to take the game to our opponents but we’ll also respect Sunderland at their place.”

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