Pochettino proud of progress

team provided White Hart Lane with the best possible send-off but claimed the new stadium, which is due to open for the start of the 2018-19 season, will push the club to loftier heights. ‘It was an emotional game and I’m lucky to be able to share the history of this special club,’ said Pochettino. ‘Today will be my abiding memory of this stadium now. It’s a special day. ‘But when the new stadium opens its doors for the first time it will help the club reach the final level. The final level in Europe.’ Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho brushed off his side’s failure to finish in the top four and made another thinly veiled attack on Arsene Wenger in the process. Yesterday’s loss ended United’s hopes of a top-four finish but they could still qualify for the Champions League by beating Ajax in the Europa League final on Wednesday week. Arsenal manager Wenger puts huge emphasis on finishing in the top four but Mourinho said: ‘I don’t know about other clubs but for us it’s more important to win titles than to finish top four. So if we can win a third title (to add to the Capital One Cup and Community Shield) it would be magnificent for us. ‘We know that if we lose the final we won’t play in the Champions League, we know that. But we fight for titles and probably other clubs finishing in the top four, probably they would like to be in our position, to try to fight for a title.’ Mourinho blamed injuries for the decision not to compete on all fronts. He added: ‘We had to make the decision to concentrate on the Europa League. When people say we gambled, we didn’t gamble. We had to do it. ‘If I have Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Tim Fosu-Mensah, I can rotate, I can go for every match. When I have 14, 15 players I can’t do it. It’s as simple as that.’