Spurs “unlucky” in loss to Chelsea according to Pochettino

In today’s 2-1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Tottenham Hotspur’s performance was certainly better than what they’ve shown in recent weeks. Unfortunately, that performance didn’t translate into actual points as Spurs dropped their first league match of the 2016-17 season.

Mauricio Pochettino is one of those who thought that Spurs deserved a little more than what they got, and told BT Sport that he felt that his side were “unlucky” to leave Stamford Bridge with a loss.

"If we analyze the game, we were better than the team that came in very good form. I think we competed very well in the first half and it was a little bit unlucky how we conceded the goal.

"I think we deserved more -- maybe to go into half-time at 2-0, 3-0 or 1-0, but never 1-1. In the second half we conceded another goal and then we fought, we competed and had chances to score a second goal, but it was impossible.

"We need to be quite disappointed for the result but I think we need to be pleased for the performance and for the way we competed, because we competed against a very good team and I had nothing to say about [the match] to my players.

"If you put aside the result, I think we have the possession, we have more attempts than Chelsea and all the stats are for us. But football is not only stats, it's about being clinical. They scored and for us it was impossible, but I think it was a very competitive game."

Tottenham were still without both of their left backs and surprisingly started Kevin Wimmer wide left, a role that is not unfamiliar to him as he on occasion plays there for Austria, but you could tell that he didn’t look entirely comfortable in that role. The absences of Toby Alderweireld and Erik Lamela continued to haunt Tottenham as well.

Despite that, Spurs put together a very solid first half and only started to look out of their depth late in the match after substitutions and Chelsea’s two goals. It’s maybe a tough sell to say that Spurs deserved something more from this match than what they ended up with, but despite the loss it’s definitely something that Spurs can build on.