Pochettino hints at possible Tottenham advantage over Man City

Mauricio Pochettino believes that the fact that Wembley will host an NFL match hours before Tottenham’s match against Manchester City will not seriously affect the playing surface.

The Spurs boss also suggested that if there is any damage to the pitch, it could in fact play in his side’s favour against a City team who are known for their slick passing style.

Due to the delay of the new Spurs stadium, the game was switched to the national stadium and had to be played on the Monday evening rather than Sunday due to the venue being pre-booked by the NFL.

The Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars meet on Sunday afternoon with some City fans and star man Kevin De Bruyne having voiced their concerns about playing on a surface following an American Football game.

Pochettino told Sky Sports: “Maybe it is good for us because we are going to face one of the best teams in Europe and the world in Manchester City and maybe it will help us,”

“It wasn’t a plan for us to play in that period at Wembley and now we cannot complain.

“Only we need to accept the reality and know that we cannot change that.

“We hope that the weather will be good and not kill the pitch and we can play in a very good condition.

“I am sure all the people that are involved in the pitch are going to work so hard to get it in a really good condition. That is my wish and I hope it can happen.”

“That is not the ideal situation to compete, we have a problem, we create the problem and we need to sort the problem,” he added. “We can’t complain, we are a little bit unlucky that the stadium is not finished.

“It was not the plan to be at Wembley, different things can happen like the NFL and you cannot change the date and we need to accept that as reality and not complain.

“We will be clear in the way we want to approach the game and we will try to win the game that is the most important thing.

“No one is going to explain if we don’t win the game that we play in difficult circumstances, when you lose, you lose and you need to accept the criticism.

“When you win it is easy to explain but when you lose you cannot use an excuse. We created that situation and we need to sort that.”

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