Tottenham Hotspur vs Stoke City preview - Pochettino out to right wrongs

Posted Friday, August 14, 2015 by PA

Mauricio Pochettino is confident Tottenham will this weekend exact revenge on Stoke after defeats home and away last season.

During a topsy-turvy first season at the White Hart Lane helm, one of the undoubted troughs for the former Argentina international came in November's home clash with the Potters.

That 2-1 home defeat was Spurs' third loss in four league games and led pressure to mount on Pochettino - a sticky period he survived and moved on from, leading the club to the Capital One Cup final and a fifth-placed finish.

Stoke once again exposed the north Londoners' soft underbelly before the season was out, though, winning 3-0 in May, giving Pochettino even more motivation to triumph when the sides meet again on Saturday.

"It's true the last two games that we played at White Hart Lane and the Britannia Stadium we lost, but it's a good opportunity to take our revenge," Pochettino said of Saturday's match.

"It's a different season, we're happy with our performance - disappointed with the result - against Manchester United but I think the way we played, our performance was good.

"We need to show on Saturday that we deserved more."

Spurs were without a number of key players last weekend as they opened the season with a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

However, those injury issues have eased markedly since then, with Danny Rose, Andros Townsend, Alex Pritchard and, most importantly, Hugo Lloris fit to face the Potters.

"This week was fantastic for everyone," Pochettino said. "All the players are fit and this is good news for us.

"The only shame is we can only pick 18 players for Saturday, but we're very happy because all the players are fit.

"Hugo and Alex Pritchard played on Monday for the Under-21s against Everton, and Danny Rose and Townsend are training in a normal way.

"Danny had a little problem last week but he's been training in a normal way."

Meanwhile, Stoke boss Mark Hughes admits he may have created a nice problem for himself with the squad he has assembled for this season.

The latest eye-catching arrival at the Britannia Stadium is Xherdan Shaqiri, who joined the Potters from Inter Milan for a club-record B£12million on Tuesday.

The Switzerland international adds to an array of attackers at Stoke including fellow new recruit Ibrahim Afellay, Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Jon Walters.

Those are all options wide of or just off a central striker, with the contenders for the more advanced position being Mame Biram Diouf, Peter Odemwingie, Joselu - another summer signing - and Peter Crouch.

Hughes concedes making the best use of what he has and trying to keep everyone happy could prove tricky - but it is something he is more than willing to tackle.

"The key is to increase the quality and that is undoubtedly what we have done," Hughes said ahead of the trip to Spurs.

"It is never easy - you have to get the balance right and make sure you pick the right team for the right game, which is my job.

"But what we do have now, and what we found last year to be really important, is strength in depth that maybe we haven't had in other years.

"Last year that enabled us to have the season we did, despite having a number of long-term injuries to key players, and we are going to need that strength in depth again.

"When everybody is fit, it is a little bit more difficult, because you have to try to keep everyone happy. But it's a nice problem and one I've dealt with before."

Shaqiri has declared himself fit to make his debut from the start at White Hart Lane. Hughes is also likely to have Arnautovic back as well as defender Marc Wilson, after the pair missed the Liverpool match due to thigh and ankle problems respectively.

Two other forwards - Odemwingie (hamstring) and Bojan (knee) are not yet ready while skipper Ryan Shawcross (back) faces between two and three months out.