POCH: WE’LL BE IN NEW STADIUM BY CHRISTMAS

... and I’ll help finish building it if I have to, jokes boss

MAURICIO Pochettino revealed yesterday that Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has assured him the club’s new £1billion stadium will be ready by Christmas.

Delivering the news that Spurs supporters have been waiting to hear, Pochettino explained he is ‘very confident’ of the team being in their new ground before 2019 and even joked that he would help the builders finish the job.

Tottenham face Watford in the third round of the Carabao Cup tonight and, despite being drawn as the home team, the tie will take place in Milton Keynes.

Today marks 500 days since the last time Pochettino’s side played at home — in a 2-1 Premier League win over Manchester United at the old White Hart Lane.

Yet there is finally light ht at the end of the tunnel. - Sportsmail understands Tottenham’s league game against Burnley on December 15 has been earmarked as the first fixture at their r 62,000-capacity ground. d.

‘I am confident,’ Pochettino hetsed said when pressed for an update on the new stadium. ‘ This year, I am confident this year. I had some private conversations with Daniel. They are confident.

‘They are working hard to try to find the solution. I hope before the year, before Christmas, we can play. That’s my wish. (It would be) a big boost for everyone.

‘We (Pochettino and Levy) have conversations every day. He called me this morning before training and yesterday we took a coffee here at the restaurant.

‘Yes, it’s tough. Sometimes he tells me, sometimes he opens the conversation about the stadium, sometimes I open the conversation and say, “Daniel, how is the stadium?” Sometimes it is tough to explain. I am very confident before the year.

‘If I have to help finish it to keep the supporters happy, I will.’

On the frustrated fans, who face attending ‘home’ games at three different stadiums this season, Pochettino added: ‘Do you want me to become a populist? What do you want? Or natural like I am? It’s easy to say, “We feel so sorry for the fans, we are going to give our best for the fans”. No. You need to show that with your work, with your commitment.’

Spurs could have played tonight’s tie at Watford’s Vicarage Road rather than Milton Keynes, which left travelling fans facing an hour-and-a-half drive from London.

Stadium MK holds 30,500 and, as of yesterday, Tottenham had sold around 14,000 tickets. Watford’s 4,500 away allocation was not yet sold out, while MK Dons had managed to flog around 1,000 tickets after offering them to thetheir own fans. An atteattendance of around 20,20,000 is expected. ‘It’s better to play in MMilton Key n e s , ’ Pochettino insisted.

‘I think playing the game at Watford wwould give the advantage tadvantage to our opponents. I don’t understand why we would do that.’ It is understood Watford were unhappy with playing the tie at Stadium MK but Pochettino said: ‘I don’t care if they are happy or not happy.

‘What can we do if we cannot play at Wembley or at our new stadium? The draw was Tottenham v Watford rather than Watford v Tottenham. We want to win.’

Pochettino is yet to lift a trophy with Tottenham but reached the Carabao Cup final in 2015.

The Argentine hinted yesterday that he feels the new stadium will kickstart their push for trophies because they will then have no excuses.

‘First of all we need to finish the stadium and build the trophy cabinet,’ he said. ‘ When all is ready and settled, now is the moment to say, “We can win now — of course it will come”.

‘There will not be an excuse afterwards. We need to win trophies. It is no use having a massive house but being unable to put furniture inside.’