POCH READY TO FACE THE DOGS OF WARNOCK

Spurs expect rough stuff from rejuvenated Bluebirds

MAURICIO POCHETTINO has warned his Tottenham side to expect a “physical” battle at Neil Warnock’s Cardiff tonight.

The Argentine takes on the relegation scrappers with midfield trio Eric Dier, Mousa Dembele and Victor Wanyama all out.

The game is also likely to be too soon for defenders Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier. Forward Erik Lamela, despite his calf injury, is more hopeful.

But Spurs are still hurting from having their brief title challenge hit by Wolves on Saturday. Pochettino admits his men now need to brace themselves for a bruising encounter in South Wales.

“It’s a tough place to play,” he said. “It’s going to be difficult. Cardiff ’s physicality makes them a very dangerous team and a very difficult one to play against. They have some talented players too.

“Cardiff won against Leicester, after Leicester had two amazing victories against Chelsea and Manchester City. But Leicester lost at home to Cardiff. And Cardiff are going to have all the confidence, it’s going to be a tough game.”

The Bluebirds, narrowly beaten 1-0 at Wembley in October, have taken four points from their last two games to remain outside of the bottom three.

They continue to be tipped for relegation but Warnock (above) has instilled belief in his men to such an extent that Pochettino (right) has called on his players to be “clever” in their own bid to bounce back.

Spurs are back in third place and nine points off leaders Liverpool.

“We move on,” Pochettino added. “We cannot stop to think. January 1st is here and we need to be ready again to compete.

“We’re going to need big energy to play. We need to be prepared for a big battle and we’re looking forward to it.

“I think, after that defeat, in football it can happen that you struggle in the next game.

“But we need to be clever enough to try to move on, to be competitive, because it’s going to be tough.

“It is going to be a very difficult test for us after a bad defeat against Wolves on Saturday. We hope the players have recovered from that. I may have to make three or four changes, but that is nothing new.”