Tottenham travel to Anfield to take on league leaders Liverpool in what is the most anticipated game of the weekend.
This is the first time the two sides have met since Liverpool beat Spurs 2-0 in the final of the UEFA Champions League back in June.
Ahead of the game, Mauricio Pochettino has confidently claimed that his team is capable of beating any side on their day including Liverpool, who have enjoyed a near-perfect Premier League campaign so far.
Speaking to Football.London, the Argentine said: “Of course, because I love my players and I believe we have an unbelievable squad with unbelievable players and when we are at our best we can beat any team.
“We were able to beat Liverpool 4-1 two years ago. We beat Ajax in the semi-final and Manchester City at home 1-0. When we play at our best we can beat any team.”
While Liverpool have almost completely refreshed their squad over the last two or three years, Spurs have hung on to most of their stars for a relatively long period of time.
Speaking about the different approaches, the Spurs manager admitted that Jurgen Klopp’s side had overtaken Tottenham over the last few years but insisted that both clubs had different objectives.
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He said while the Reds were able to focus on building a team to challenge for the title, Tottenham had to work through a transition into the new stadium.
Pochettino added: “We assess everything. From that first game we played at White Hart Lane they only keep in the squad Milner and Lallana. We are two different clubs with two different philosophies and two different ways to play and two different objectives but in the same race and competing for the same titles.
“Still in the five and a half years I was here… I don’t want to be repetitive but the plan was to build the stadium, to move to Wembley, to help the club to achieve all that in the end we achieved. It was to reduce the gap to the top four and playing the Champions League one season would be a dream.
“Now in the last four years, we have played four seasons in a row in the Champions League and playing a final in the Champions League. Of course expectations are so high, but of course when you analyse five years ago, both clubs have different objectives in their time.
“For them they were focused on trying to build a team that can compete and win titles. For us, the same because we are so competitive, but the priority was in different areas. That makes it more difficult.”
Spurs Web Opinion
In hindsight, we really should have won at least one Premier League title between 2015 and 2017 as the other teams were going through poor spells and we were the best team in the country for those two years. We are now at least a year or two behind the top two but I still believe Pochettino can help us close that gap if he is properly backed in the transfer window.
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