Mauricio Pochettino claimed he does not care about the outcome of the big Manchester City-Liverpool showdown after Tottenham remained firmly in the Premier League title picture with a comprehensive victory at Cardiff.
Spurs bounced back from Saturday’s shock home defeat to Wolves with a 3-0 win that saw Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Son Heung-min score inside the opening 26 minutes.
The victory took Spurs back above City into second place and within six points of leaders Liverpool.
City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium on Thursday, and a win for Pep Guardiola’s side would work in Tottenham’s favour by tightening up matters at the top.
But Pochettino said: “In this country all the people are going to watch the game.
“But I will be in a neutral position trying to enjoy the game.
“I don’t care about the result, I just want to enjoy the spectacle and the game.”
Spurs never looked back at Cardiff after Kane opened the scoring in the third minute, albeit through a slice of good fortune after Sean Morrison’s attempted clearance struck the England captain and flew in.
🕺 New year, new moves. #COYS pic.twitter.com/0hGDvwxLKH — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 1, 2019
The goal saw Kane complete the clean sweep of scoring against all 28 Premier League opponents he has faced, and Spurs eased to a sixth win in seven league games as the gulf between the two sides was cruelly exposed.
“Us and Everton, we were the two teams who suffered the most difficult fixtures in that period,” Pochettino said after Tottenham’s fourth game in 10 days.
“So, of course, I congratulate the players because the effort was fantastic.
“I think it was so important (to win) and build another positive run,” Pochettino said.
“It is three points that make us believe a little bit more in our possibility to be in a very good position in the table.”
Cardiff remain three points above the relegation zone, with heavy home defeats against Manchester United and Tottenham bookending the four points picked up in away games at Crystal Palace and Leicester.
Boss Neil Warnock felt that Cardiff paid the price for a sloppy start, just as they did against United.
“I don’t think it was a game too far, I just thought we shot ourselves in the foot,” Warnock said.
“Man United, it was two-and-a-half minutes, today one-and-a-half minutes.
Gracias por el apoyo hasta el fin. Seguimos peleando. La lesión no es nada grave. #Bluebirds 💙 – Thanks for the support until the end. We'll keep fighting. The injury is nothing serious. #Bluebirds 💙 pic.twitter.com/QLTg7SNh3j — Victor Camarasa (@vicama8) January 1, 2019
“You can’t give quality players like that a lift.
“We wanted to put them under pressure after their (Wolves) result and really it was a stroll.
“I was pleased we didn’t just fold in the second half.”
