Pochettino lauds his Tottenham players as ´heroes´

Mauricio Pochettino labelled his Tottenham players “heroes” for their efforts in the 0-0 Premier League draw with Chelsea on Sunday.

Spurs were 1-0 Europa League winners away at Qarabag in Azerbaijan on Thursday, the length of that journey raising concerns over the players’ fitness in their home clash with Jose Mourinho’s team.

Although Tottenham were unable to get the win at White Hart Lane, the Argentine manager was delighted with how hard his side worked and felt they deserved more from the game.

“First of all, I think the players are heroes because the effort was unbelievable after a difficult week,” Pochettino told BT Sport.

“I am very proud because we showed a very mature performance, like at Qarabag.

“I think we deserved more. It was clear that we always tried to win the game and Chelsea are happy because a point for them is more important than for us.

“I’m very happy with the performance and the team played well.”

Jan Vertonghen acknowledged Tottenham’s lack of energy showed in the latter stages of a tight contest.

“Maybe we lacked a bit of freshness at the end to create some extra chances,” he said.

“It was a hard trip [to play Qarabag] but, like I said before, we didn’t have an excuse for freshness today, and I feel it a bit to be honest.”