POCH HAS POP AT A PREMIER PROBLEM

MAURICIO POCHETTINO leads Tottenham into a new Europa League campaign tonight convinced English sides are at a disadvantage because of the extra ‘suffering’ they do in the Barclays Premier League. Having watched Manchester City and Manchester United lose in the Champions League, the Spurs manager believes the root cause is weekly domestic battles, with England’s top flight deeper in talent than La Liga and Serie A. Quite how much Tottenham care about the Europa League is a separate matter and one which will be answered by Pochettino’s team selection tonight against Qarabag FK of Azerbaijan. But on the broader issue of recent British problems in European tournaments, Pochettino said: ‘This week was a good example — Manchester City and Manchester United lost because the Premier League is a very tough competition. When you see Sevilla play against I-don’t-know-who in Spain, maybe they can rest the week before they play in the Champions League. But for Manchester City it was a very tough game against Crystal Palace. It is not an easy competition, the Premier League, so you suffer a lot in Europe.’ Tottenham are without Ryan Mason after the midfielder injured a knee scoring the winner against Sunderland on Sunday, while Pochettino indicated he could draft in fringe players for a competition that undermined his efforts to qualify for the Champions League last season. He also denied goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’s future rests on the success of this season, saying: ‘I don’t know why people say Hugo wants to play Champions League because he is very happy.’

TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dier, Bentaleb; Townsend, Lamela, Chadli; Kane.