Pochettino urges Spurs to hit winter hot streak

MAURICIO Pochettino has urged Tottenham to emulate last season’s winter hot streak after their 4-1 demolition of 10-man Southampton.

Spurs beat Saints 2-0 in December last year and then won eight out of their next 10 matches to emerge as Leicester’s closest title rivals.

They now travel to Watford on New Year’s Day before hosting league leaders Chelsea and Pochettino wants this win to spark another strong run of form.

“Yes, why not? It’s true the Premier League is very tough now, and all the big clubs, the sides are fighting at the top,” Pochettino said.

“It is a completely different Premier League this year. For us it’s important, we had a very good year last season, 71 points, and towards the end we were still fighting for big things.”

Dele Alli’s double, as well as goals from Harry Kane and Son Heungmin, were enough to see off Saints, who had earlier taken the lead within just 73 seconds through Virgil van Dijk.

Spurs led 2-1 in the second half when referee Mike Dean sent Nathan Redmond off for deliberately denying Alli a goalscoring opportunity.

Redmond had stumbled into the back of Alli as he was about to shoot and while Harry Kane blazed the spot-kick over, Tottenham made their extra man count.

New rules introduced in April state a team need not be punished twice for accidental fouls but deliberate fouls — which include holding, pulling or pushing — still incur a red card.

“I think it’s a little hard because he didn’t want to make a fault, he just touched the player,” Saints boss Claude Puel said.

“It is two players trying to win the ball.

“It is difficult to accept because of course it changes the philosophy of the game. “After it was finished. “Against a team with this quality, good possession and great players, it was difficult for us.

“We tried 10 against 11 and I praise the spirit of my players because t hey tried to find a solution.”

Tottenham could be without three defenders against Watford.

Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Walker will both miss the match through suspension after each collecting their fifth yellow cards of the season.

Vertonghen may also face retrospective action after catching Jay Rodriguez in the face with his hand, although neither manager said they saw the incident.

Toby Alderweireld, meanwhile, is also struggling to be fit after missing the win over Southampton with an illness.

“We hope he will be available against Watford because last night he was better,” Pochettino said.

“He got a virus, was sick, vomiting, and fever in the last two days.

“We hope he will be OK.”