PREMIER LEAGUE POCH LOSING HIS DRIVING FOURTH NOW IT’S DO OR DIE

Spurs boss feeling the pressure to make the top four as he tells fans: Remember where we were when I started here

THE CHANGE in his tone reflects the gravity of the situation.

Before this week a relaxed Mauricio Pochettino was putting Tottenham’s progress as a club before the calls for trophies.

He remains on course for a third successive campaign in the Champions League.

A cruise into the top four, however, has become a desperate scramble with just one win from four and Chelsea finding their stride again.

One slip from Spurs in their final two games – against Newcastle tonight and Leicester on Sunday – will allow the Blues to pounce.

Some fans fear a monumental collapse. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy could be forgiven for worrying about missing out on the £51.9million in prize money and TV revenue that the club’s run to the last 16 landed them this season.

Pochettino, however, has moved to temper anxieties by reminding the club where they were before his arrival four years ago. “Daniel is safe with the money. It is not a problem,” he said.

“The plan four years ago was not to play every season in the Champions League. If you over-achieve, fantastic. You have more money to invest.” Pochettino’s arrival in 2014, Spurs had played elite European football just once in the preceding six seasons.

Since his move from Southampton they have challenged for the title, finished ahead of Arsenal twice and could finish above Chelsea. A fifth-place finish would be a disappointing end to this campaign after going out of the Champions League at the last16 stage to Juventus and losing the FA Cup semifinal at home to Manchester United.

But Pochettino added:

“Of course, it’s a massive disappointbefore ment for our fans. But before we arrived four years ago the team was sixth. The gap with the top four was massive and it was ‘the dream is to fight and to reduce the gap’. “Four years later we are there. But win? It’s not an easy thing to achieve like this [clicks fingers], like magic. We are in a good race to win some titles one day.” Despite their form, Pochettino has no doubt the club can win their last two games at home. “If we cannot, we cannot,” he said. “Then we need to analyse why. But now we have to be all together, to fight for it with our fans, and to create a good atmosphere.”