Pochettino calls for Southampton to positive response

Since his arrival in England, Pochettino has seen his side win four out of 13 games, but they are without victory in their previous three matches, and he wants his players to use the pain of last week’s 3-0 defeat to West Brom as a motivating factor when they face Tottenham.

Southampton won three consecutive matches in March to lift themselves out of the bottom three and open up a seven-point gap between themselves and the relegation zone, however their recent form has meant they are not yet mathematically safe.

They travel to White Hart Lane in their penultimate away fixture of the season and the Argentine knows that picking up anything will be tough, be remains positive his team have the firepower to avoid defeat.

“We’re going to be facing a really good team,” Pochettino said.

“They
have very good footballers, but in football anything is possible, and
we have our own strengths and weapons.

“We have to be able to express all of the anger that
we have from the West Bromwich game and channel that into a positive
way for the game against Tottenham on Saturday.

“We have to be confident in our abilities on the day so that we can win.”

Gareth Bale is likely to feature in his first game since sweeping the PFA player of the Year awards, but Pochettino believes the South Coast club would be foolish to focus solely on the Wales international.

“Tottenham are not just
Gareth Bale,” he said.

“They have other very good quality players so, as we always
do when we play any of the big sides, we have to focus on the team and
not just one player.”