Poch: No need to address derby goal celebrations

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino did not feel the need to talk to Eric Dier after his goal celebration sparked a mass brawl in Sunday’s feisty north London derby.

Dier celebrated in front of the Arsenal substitutes after his equalising goal at 1-1 and it escalated quickly, with both sets of players and benches becoming involved in a huge melee.

Pochettino himself sprinted down the touchline to play peacemaker and the Football Association has charged both clubs with failing to control their players.

Dier, who admitted to enjoying the passionate nature of the game, earned a booking, but avoided the wrath of his manager following the 4-2 Emirates defeat.

“To be honest, I didn’t talk with him,” Pochettino said. “Because when you do something and then it’s so evident what happened after, you can take it in one or two directions.

“There’s no sense now to talk too much, now it’s just to accept the FA charge or not. It’s under investigation. If we did something wrong, it’s normal to pay.”

Spurs have the chance to bounce back from that disappointing loss, which saw them drop to fifth in the Premier League, when they welcome Pochettino’s former club Southampton to Wembley tonight.

The Saints, currently managerless following Mark Hughes’ sacking on Monday, was Pochettino’s first club in English football and he will be coming up against Kelvin Davis in the opposite dugout, the man he first gave the armband to at St Mary’s in 2013.