Pochettino still has top-four hopes for Tottenham

Mauricio Pochettino has not written off Tottenham’s chances of making the top four this season despite trailing fourth-placed Chelsea by 10 points. Spurs have endured a disappointing start to the season, having won just three games, and they can ill-afford to fall any further behind if they want to finish in the Champions League qualification places for the fifth successive season.
Pochettino has spoken at length about the reasons for his side’s poor start but is positive they can still achieve their goals. “We’ll see. Today, it’s so early,” he said. “If we are capable of finding the right balance to start performing in the way we expect, of course it’s still possible. “We need time to get everything right because we went back to five years ago where we were in terms of position, situations and stuff like that, so it takes time.”
Pochettino is pleased with the way his players have performed in the Champions League after they moved to within one win of qualifying for the knockout stages after the impressive 4-0 win at Red Star Belgrade in midweek.
But the Argentine acknowledges that “we need to improve a lot” in the Premier League, starting with Saturday’s visit of surprise package Sheffield United.
The Blades arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium occupying sixth spot in the table, three points ahead of Spurs.
The north Londoners will no doubt feel they can make ground on the top four in the coming weeks.
They will follow the Sheffield United clash with a trip to London rivals West Ham, who have struggled of late, after the international break and finish November with a home game against Bournemouth.
Whatever happens over the next few months, they will be without captain Hugo Lloris, who underwent surgery on his dislocated elbow this week.
Specialists were unhappy with how his joint had healed after his injury at the start of October and he will not be back before the end of the year.