Evening Standard

Pochettino gets back in the groove as he prepares for Euro showdown at St Mary’s

- Giuseppe Muro @giuseppemu­ro

MAURICIO POCHETTINO returns to Southampto­n on Saturday with Tottenham back in the groove after a satisfying win against Newcastle.

Spurs were not at their best but they did not need to be.

A return to winning ways was all important as Pochettino prepares to go back to St Mary’s for the first time since leaving the club last summer and a fixture that could have a big say in who qualifies for the Europa League. The lunchtime kick-off against Southampto­n has taken on added significan­ce after Aston Villa beat Liverpool to reach the FA Cup Final.

It means there is a chance that only the top six in the Premier League will qualify for Europe next season.

If Villa beat Arsenal at Wembley on May 30 then Tim Sherwood’s side will play in Europe and the team that finishes seventh will miss out.

In previous years Villa would have already done enough to secure a European place because Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League.

But a new rule introduced this season means the spare place reverts to the Premier League. After offcolour displays against Burnley and Aston Villa, an improved performanc­e yesterday was a timely boost for Spurs and saw them move above Southampto­n into sixth place.

“It is a very big game on Saturday,” said Spurs goalkeeper Michel Vorm. “Everybody knows the history with the manager so it will be special. It is not going to be easy but we can take the confidence into the game. We need to at least make sure we do not lose but the best way to show that we are improving is to go there and win.”

Pochettino was pleased to see Harry Kane rediscover his scoring touch

after admitting the 21-year-old had struggled since his exploits with ith England last month. Kane (right) is the first Spurs player to reach 30 goals in a season since Gary y Lineker in 1992.

He is level with £38million Sergio Aguero on 20 Premier League goals and again led the way yesterday with some intelligen­t hold-up play. More promise came in the he form of impressive performanc­es from Jan Vertonghen, making his return from injury, Danny Rose and Nabil Bentaleb. PaulinhoPa­ul was a surprise choice as manma of the match on Sky SportsSpor­t but, while the midfielder hadha a decent dM game, Ryan

Mason may be a better

HARRY KANE celebrates becoming the first Spurs player since Gary Lineker to net 30 goals in a season for the club.c Lineker finished with 35 goalsgoal in 1991-92, the last season beforebef the Premier League began. optionopt against Southampto­n. SpursSpu ran into Newcastle at a goodgoo time. John Carver’s side are nervously looking over their shoulder after six successive defeats and a planned protest from home fans against owner Mike Ashley did not help a team clearly low on confidence.

“That is not our problem but we could tell that Newcastle were not the most confident,” said Vorm. “The protest helped us a little. I know a few of their players and they are in a hard position. There is pressure on them.

“You can tell they do not have the must confidence but we took advantage of that. We had two poor performanc­es against Burnley and Aston Villa so we needed the win.”

 ??  ?? Harry Kane grabs Spurs’ third goal yesterday with a typically assured finish
Harry Kane grabs Spurs’ third goal yesterday with a typically assured finish
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