Kane goal claim turned down as Eriksen keeps Spurs on course
but Harry said it touched his shoulder. But in the end the most important thing was three massive points for us, that put us in a good position in the table to achieve our goal and finish in the top four.”
Spurs will also have one eye on now trying to nick second place ahead of Liverpool and Manchester United over the remaining weeks of the season.
Pochettino added: “First of all, we want to finish in the top four for a third season in a row but, then, of course, it would be better to finish second than third or fourth.”
This was not a vintage performance by any means from Pochettino’s team, but they dug in and saw off a spirited effort from a Stoke City team fighting what looks to be a losing battle to avoid relegation.
Tottenham took the lead seven minutes after the break. Bruno Martins Indi played the ball out of defence straight to Mousa Dembele, who picked out Dele Alli and he set up Eriksen to sweep a shot into the net.
The noisy home faithful fell silent, clearly fearing the heavens could open, but Stoke nicked an unlikely equaliser five minutes later thanks to another howler from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Having gifted Chelsea a goal the previous week, Llofrom ris ran from his line to try to cut out a Xherdan Shaqiri pass.
But the Frenchman could only send his clearance into Mame Biram Diouf, who managed to stay upright long enough to roll the ball into the net. Diouf then required treatment, but was able to continue and squandered a superb chance to equalise again after Tottenham had regained the lead. Whether Eriksen’s brilliant delivery had gone straight in may have been the subject of a review, but there was no debating that Diouf should have done better near the end.
The striker found himself with time and space inside the Tottenham penalty area, but side-footed the ball straight to Jan Vertonghen – much to the anger of the Stoke supporters, who greeted the fact Diouf was later named man of the match with a mixture of laughs and jeers.
Paul Lambert, the Stoke manager, said: “We need three wins. If we play like that we will get them.”