Pochettino faces two charges for rant at Dean

MAURICIO POCHETTINO has been charged with two counts of improper conduct after his angry confrontation with referee Mike Dean and the Tottenham manager could be banned from the touchline. Pochettino (below) appeared to be incensed by something Dean said as they clashed on the pitch and again in the tunnel area after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Burnley. Television footage shows him clearly challenging the referee to repeat for the cameras something he had previously said. Dean told him four times to ‘go away’ and has since been removed from his appointment as fourth official for Tottenham’s fixture at Chelsea tomorrow. Defeat at Burnley was hard for Spurs to take after closing the gap on Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of the Premier League during a congested midwinter schedule and placing one foot into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Pochettino rewarded his players with a short break after the 3-0 win against Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie. But they flopped on their return to action at Burnley and must pick up their form ahead of three key games in seven days: Chelsea away, Arsenal at home on Saturday and the second leg in Dortmund, three days later. Pochettino has until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the charges. On his side, he did show contrition when he admitted he had ‘crossed a line’ at Burnley and would accept his punishment.