Mauricio Pochettino bans players from PFA awards

Mauricio Pochettino has banned his Tottenham Hotspur players from attending the Professional Footballers’ Association awards dinner on Sunday night, as he refuses to contemplate any distraction for them before their vital home game against West Bromwich Albion 24 hours later.

Harry Kane has been nominated for the union’s player of the year trophy, Dele Alli is on the shortlist for the young player award and four Tottenham players are in the PFA’s team of the season – Kane, Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose.

The dinner will be held at London’s Grosvenor House hotel but Pochettino’s thoughts are fixed on Monday night’s West Brom game, in which Tottenham will attempt to increase the pressure on Leicester City. They sit five points behind the Premier League leaders with four matches to play. Leicester face Swansea City at home on Sunday afternoon.

Pochettino was asked where his players would be on Sunday night, when the dinner was taking place.

“At home. At home. At home!” he said. “But this is normal and all people can understand. It’s a shame but we play Monday.

“It’s true that the players would like to go but I think the responsibility when you have a big game for us like West Brom on Monday – you need to stay at home, rest and focus on the game. After the game on Monday, we have time for a party or to congratulate the players – for everything!”

Drop points

Pochettino is hoping that Leicester drop points against Swansea and when he discussed the impact of the suspension of Jamie Vardy, Leicester’s top scorer, it was possible to wonder whether he was making an attempt at mind games for the first time during the run-in. Vardy is banned after his sending-off in last Sunday’s 2-2 home draw with West Ham United.

“I think that it’s a big impact for Leicester because Vardy is one of the best players in the Premier League,” Pochettino said. “Sure, it’s a big impact for them. I think Leicester have very good players and are in a position that they deserve to be in, nobody gave them nothing for nothing. But he’s one of the best strikers in the Premier League. They will feel that, but I’m sure they have different players that can play the same way.”

Prolific season

Vardy has also been shortlisted for the PFA’s player of the season award but Pochettino has no doubt that Kane ought to win it. He has 24 league goals to Vardy’s 22 but, in Pochettino’s opinion, a factor which ought to be considered is that this is Kane’s second prolific season in a row.

The view was expressed in some quarters last summer that Kane might struggle to reproduce the form of his breakthrough campaign, in which he scored 21 league goals; that he could prove to be a one-season wonder. But Kane has taken inspiration from the doubters and he has emphatically proved them wrong.

“The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world and for some periods, when you have a player like Harry Kane, people speak and they can doubt whether he can repeat the same season,” Pochettino said. “But Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world and he has proved that it wasn’t only one season.

“We are now in the second season and he’s showed his real quality. We never had any doubts about him. From day one, we knew that he would achieve everything because his mentality, his passion and hunger are fantastic. He has shown fantastic skill and that he’s one of the best in the world.”

Guardian service