#_author:Jack Pitt-Brooke

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Harry Winks: How trusting Mauricio Pochettino saw me break into the Tottenham first-team

Harry Winks will never forget the first moment he met Mauricio Pochettino. It was July 2014 and Winks, aged 18, was signing his first professional deal at White Hart Lane. He was with his father Gary, his agent, Tottenham academy chief John McDermott and football secretary Rebecca Britain. Then Pochettino walked in.

“He came in and shook my hand,” Winks tells the story. “And he said, and I don’t know if he was being truthful or not, ‘I have seen your videos, and I told John to sign you up straightaway.’ I was gobsmacked at the gaffer just saying that.”

Two and a half years on and Winks is a regular part of Pochettino’s first team, providing more balance and control in midfield than anyone else. He will make eighth senior start on Saturday, against Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup. The further Spurs’ three-front season progresses, the more chances Winks will get.

It is a vindication for 15 years of effort from Winks and also of Pochettino’s own work to bring him through. They say at Tottenham that Pochettino has a plan for every player, but does not always tell the player exactly what that plan is. McDermott, whose academy prepares youngsters for the first team, is the conduit between Pochettino and the youngsters. Winks just had to trust his manager that he would end up in the Spurs first team, where he had wanted to be since his dad took him to White Hart Lane at the age of six.

Just because Winks’ emergence has been so long in the making does not mean that it was inevitable. There were moments last season, when Winks was training with the first team but never playing for them, when he felt anxious about his future and lack of games. He was left wondering whether Pochettino did in fact have the right idea for him.

“It was very stressful, I'll be honest,” Winks says, in the first major interview of his career. “I had a whole season just in the squad, travelling, being left out, travelling, being left out, and it was difficult. The manager knew that, it was part of his plan, and you’ve got to be patient.”

Winks’ first three Spurs appearances were against Partizan Belgrade, FK Qarabag and Fiorentina, for a combined total of 20 minutes. “You come up to 20 years old and you've only played three times,” he says. “You see other boys who are playing regularly in the Premier League or in the Championship. And you're thinking ‘I've only played three times, no starts, they've all been five minutes here and there.’

Most young players in Winks’ position would go on loan to play. But Pochettino would not allow it. He does not like other coaches getting their hands on his youngsters. He wants to improve them himself.

“[Pochettino] always told John [McDermott] that I would be in the first-team squad, training regularly,” Winks says. Again, McDermott and Winks’ agent were the go-betweens. “The manager never spoke to me directly about it, he would never pull me in. He would just let me get on with it, working hard every day. There was never a direct thing from the manager.”

Winks had to take it on trust what Pochettino wanted for him. “The manager wanted me in and around it, moulding me with the first team, getting into his way of thinking,” he says, with remarkable candour and perspective about what was not an easy time for him. “A loan got mentioned once but he said ‘no, he’s not going’. I knew the fact that manager didn’t loan me out was a massive sign I was in his plans. But at the same time, I just wanted to play matches. So do I annoy the manager and try and push for a loan? Or do I just keep working hard and trust him?”

That was the dilemma, that trade-off between development and playing time, that Winks faced at the end of last season. He did not want this year to be like last one. He knew that if he wanted a loan there were plenty of teams, in the Championship and abroad, who would take him. Brighton wanted him and it is not hard to envisage him being very successful there.

But Winks only ever wanted to play for Spurs. When he sat down with his dad and agent at the end of last season, that was the only goal they discussed. He did not want to push for a loan. He wanted to believe in Pochettino. Which meant giving it one big push last summer. “It was all or nothing,” Winks looks back. “My mindset was ‘forget about the loan, push to play for Tottenham.’ I was going to give it all in pre-season. If it works, it works.”

So Winks worked as hard as he could to get as fit as possible for pre-season. “I made myself come back in really, really good condition because I wanted to make a point of hitting the ground running,” he says. “I remember the first day I came back, I really put myself through my paces.”

Pochettino’s favourite pre-season drill is the ‘Gacon Test’. He learned it at Paris Saint Germain, where it was instituted by Georges Gacon, the fitness coach who left PSG just before Pochettino signed from Espanyol in 2001. Players run for 45 seconds then rest for 15 seconds, with each 45-second run, starting at 100m, 6.25metres longer than the last. The more tired the players get, the further and faster they have to run.

“It’s a killer,” says Winks, “an absolute killer. You can imagine, after 13 or so runs, you get knackered. You get two warnings, if you miss the time, then you’re out. But I did really well, I was one of the last to finish. I think I got to level 20. I really pushed myself to the limit and luckily enough I did well.”

Pochettino noticed and Winks was on the plane to Australia pre-season. He impressed against Atletico Madrid and Juventus. Pochettino and assistant Jesus Perez congratulated him. So did McDermott. When Winks was on the bench for the season opener at Goodison Park on 13 August, he sensed that this season might be different, and that Pochettino was right.

It was very stressful, I'll be honest. I had a whole season just in the squad, travelling, being left out, travelling, being left out, and it was difficult.

Harry Winks

On 16 September Winks signed a new five-year deal at White Hart Lane. Five days later he made his first ever start, against Gillingham in the EFL Cup. Hearing the pre-match music from the tunnel was a lifelong ambition fulfilled. “My dad and I used to get hairs on our necks when it came on,” Winks says. “So being in the tunnel, about to walk out to it, I can’t describe it.”

It was against West Ham United on 19 November that Winks’ greatest moment came. He started, scored his first senior goal, and just as he was about to get into the shower after the 3-2 win he got called into Pochettino’s office. The manager was enjoying a celebratory glass of wine with Jesus Perez and Toni Jimenez.

“The manager said ‘well done Harry, I’m really pleased for you’, and gave me a cuddle,” Winks remembers. “He was basically saying well done for all your hard work. He understood how difficult last season was for me, he knew it was hard travelling and not playing. He said he was proud of me. I said thank you for the opportunity, and that my goal was a thank-you to him.” The plan had been utterly vindicated.

Winks is speaking at his old school, Cavendish, in Hemel Hempstead, where he took his GCSEs less than five years ago. To hear him speak about Pochettino is to understand why every young player who has played for him, from Espanyol to Southampton to Spurs, is in awe of him.

Winks, 21 next Thursday, is too young to remember Pochettino’s playing days but knows that having played in a World Cup gives him special credit with the players. “When you have someone who’s been there and done it at the highest level, at a World Cup, you have to respect him,” Winks says. “You think, ‘if he’s done it at a World Cup finals, he must be right.’ He gives you a different element of thinking when you’re around him.”

Pochettino still likes to get involved with training and even injured himself jumping for a 50-50 in an 8v8 game one morning. “One of the player was injured so the gaffer stepped in,” Winks recalls, trying and failing not to laugh. “The ball went up in the air, and you knew something was going to happen, someone was going to get injured. The gaffer went for it, someone else went for it, either Cam Carter-Vickers or Ben Davies. He whacked his back, he’s hobbling to the physio. They were a bit nervous, ‘I’ve just injured the gaffer here.’”

Pochettino also gets involved in the boxes, which make up the basis of his training every morning. Boxes involves eight or so players on the edge of a tight space, with two in the middle, focusing on keeping the ball. As hard as the Spurs players are worked, they like to have fun too.

“If you get nutmegged three times, during one box, you have to sing on an away trip,” Winks says. “A couple of the boys have been nutmegged three times but they are fighting their corner and refusing to sing. Eric Dier and Josh Onomah haven’t sung. There is a bit of a debate over whether their leg was up, or down for a proper nutmeg.” Spurs usually have one English box and one foreign box, and this week have been playing English against foreign training games. At the time of this interview on Thursday evening, the score was 1-1.

To hear Winks describe life at Tottenham is to hear a player wholly at home and comfortable in his environment. He has been training at Spurs since the age of five, when academy coach Ross Kemp invited him to Spurs’ St Albans development centre after seeing him impress at a summer soccer school. He signed with the academy at six and remembers the thrill of getting his own Kappa training gear for the first time.

But that was a long time ago now and plenty of local boys sign up and then fall away. Winks is one of the very few who has stayed in the system and made it to the top. It took hard work, time, a plan and trust.

Harry Winks was speaking at the launch of a new football and education programme being delivered by the Club at his old school, Cavendish. For more information, please visit tottenhamhotspur.com/foundation

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Pep Guardiola 'delighted' to welcome Vincent Kompany back but errs on the side of caution

Pep Guardiola was delighted to welcome Vincent Kompany back into the Manchester City team on Saturday, as his captain completed 90 minutes for the first time since last September, but warned that the club will tread carefully with the player as he continues to recover fully from injury.

Kompany’s absence has been a disaster for City this season who have struggled for stability at the back. But Kompany has been excelling in training recently and was able to complete Saturday’s game with no obvious problems. If Kompany can even play half of City’s games for the rest of the season he will help a side trying to compete in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup, and the captain was assessed on Sunday back in Manchester to see how his body reacted to the game.

“We are going to see on Sunday his regeneration and after then we will see,” Guardiola said. “The first step is done, that is good. It is a long time since this happened, since he was able to play 90 minutes without injury. Last season I remember the semi-final of the Champions League [he went off] after seven minutes.”

Guardiola praised Kompany’s work as well as that of Dr Ramon Cugat, the Barcelona-based orthopaedic surgeon who Guardiola has always worked with. Dr Cugat, who rescued Guardiola’s own playing career, has helped to solve Kompany’s own muscular problems this season as well as working with Kevin de Bruyne. City have also appointed Dr Eduardo Mauri, a close associate of Dr Cugat, formerly of Espanyol, as their new club doctor.

“The doctors and the physios that Manchester City have are exceptional, some of the best I ever worked with in my life,” Guardiola said. “That has helped him a lot to get fit, that is good.”

Kompany was himself delighted to be back after having his season ruined by injuries so far. Kompany said that he knew he was ready to play again after excelling in training in recent weeks.

“I keep going and if I felt that in training these guys were a little too much for me I’d hold my hand up and say, ‘This was a little too much for me’,” he said. “But at the moment I’m with the best in training so there’s no reason to stop.”

Kompany’s early career at Anderlecht and Hamburg was blighted by injuries which means that he has the resilience to overcome problems, as he has shown over the last 18 months at City.

“I just trust myself and all the situations I’ve seen over the past 13 years,” he said. “There’s very few moves that players will do that I haven’t seen, dealt or thought about before. The only thing is whether the body goes where you want to go. That’s not been a problem and I knew from training. If you get through training at City, then you’re alright for most of the games.”

The return of Kompany meant another game on the bench for John Stones, who Guardiola admitted was not the right man to take on the physical challenge of Christian Benteke.

Had Kompany been fit all season it might have been easier for Stones, who has struggled since his £48m move in part because he has not had a stable experienced partner alongside him. Stones has not played City’s last two games and Guardiola said that not every game was right for the young prodigy, telling him to “fight” like he did at the start of the season..

“If you see my line-ups for the last three, four , five months I try to have all the players play,” Guardiola explained. “So he’s played a lot. But now, for this kind of stadium, for [Christian] Benteke, for the long-balls, I decide to play two central defenders more strong in the air. I will continue to play a left-footed central defender on the left side, like Kolarov. But I remember the last games he played, especially in Anfield, even in Goodison Park, he played good.”

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Pep Guardiola welcomes return of Vincent Kompany to Manchester City's starting line-up

Pep Guardiola was delighted with Manchester City’s 3-0 win at Crystal Palace but said that “maybe the best news” was the return of captain Vincent Kompany from injury.

Kompany completed 90 minutes for just the second time this season, and the first time since September, having missed the last two months with a knee injury. Kompany’s last two seasons for City have been ruined by injury but Guardiola was delighted with the work he had done with Barcelona-based orthopaedic surgeon Dr Ramon Cugat, helping him to return to fitness.

Kompany looked back to his best and was rarely troubled all afternoon at Selhurst Park. “That is good, maybe one of the best news from tonight,” Guardiola said afterwards. “He was a long time injured and every time he comes back he could not finish 90 minutes. It happened in the EFL Cup [26 October], it happened here [19 November].”

“We cannot forget he was two years injured, but the doctors, the physios and Ramon Cugat made an exceptional job,” Guardiola continued. “And of course his willingness to keep going, to try it again. He has come back and that is very important news for us because we need all the players for us to play in all three competitions this season.”

Guardiola was also delighted with the full debut of 19 year old Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus, who set up Raheem Sterling’s opening goal. “He helped us a lot, he is so aggressive, although he is not a tall guy,” Guardiola said. “It was first game, so it was not easy for him to communicate, he doesn’t speak English and he needs time. But he makes a lot of movements, for the first goal his assist was outstanding. He played good, he’s only 19 years old and has a lot of gap to improve to get even better. That is why we are here to help him, to improve the natural condition that he has.”

Overall Guardiola was pleased with a win that moves City into the fifth round of the competition. “We started good and created chances in the first 20 minutes,” he said. “I thought the goal would be good for us for the beginning of the second half but it was not like this. In the second half first 20 minutes we didn’t play, but the second goal was from a magnificent action from David [Silva] with the assist.”

That is good, maybe one of the best news from tonight.

Pep Guardiola

Sam Allardyce was frustrated to lose new signing Jeffrey Schlupp to a hamstring injury in the second half, which will keep him out for a few weeks.

"We've lost that habit of winning,” Allardyce said. “Our game is OK in parts. We look quite good at times and then a mistake creeps in and the opposition punish us. Loic Remy’s was the main chance. If that goes in the back of the net it may have been different.”

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Manchester City ease into round five as Sam Allardyce's Crystal Palace struggles continue

Manchester City gave a glimpse of their glistening future here at Selhurst Park, beating Crystal Palace 3-0 to reach the fifth round of the FA Cup.

This competition is not Pep Guardiola’s priority, Kevin De Bruyne was on the bench and Sergio Aguero was left at home, with City preparing for a Premier League trip to West Ham United on Wednesday. But he fielded a thrilling young front three of Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling, who was the oldest of them at just 22.

Sane, Sterling and Gabriel tore Palace apart, combining for City’s brilliant first two goals, before Yaya Toure capped it off with a brilliant free-kick at the end. They all played with imagination, skill, but above all with pace, providing exactly the type of threat Guardiola wants from his forwards. Guardiola hailed them post-match as the “future” of the club, and it was easy to imagine watching them that this could be City’s front line for the next 10 years.

As well as Sane and Sterling played, Gabriel was the most impressive of the three. He set up Sterling’s goal, played a part in Sane’s and should have grabbed one for himself at the end. All of this in his first start in English football, after just one substitute appearance on Saturday. He played through a heavy second-half hailstorm and some pretty rudimentary tackling but looked remarkably well-adjusted to English football. He looked strong, canny, enthusiastic and brave. On this showing City have bought well.

This was not as complete a performance as City’s 5-0 win at West Ham in the third round. But it was not far away. The first 15 minutes or so of this match was the most one-sided opening spell to any game this season. It is no exaggeration to say that Crystal Palace could not get a touch on the ball, and City swarmed all over them from the start. David Silva and Sane both missed chances to give City the lead.

As is often the case, City could not maintain their intensity and they let Palace in a few times on the break. Vincent Kompany, making his first start since November, completing his first 90 minutes since September, had to cut out a few counter-attacks But just as their control of the first half started to slip, they took the lead with a brilliant opening goal. Jesus dropped back into midfield, picked up the ball, turned and played a perfect pass through to Sterling. Running through on goal, Sterling shaped to shoot across Wayne Hennessey but tucked the ball into the near post instead. Jesus nearly scored himself just before the half-time whistle, but Hennessey saved.

City took their foot off the gas early in the second half and nearly allowed Palace back into it. But Palace never had enough quality to punish them, half-time substitute Loic Remy volleying their best chance over the bar. When City turned it back up they killed the game with a brilliant second goal.

Silva ran forward with the ball down the middle of the pitch. Gabriel made a clever decoy run across the box, dragging the defence with him. Sane ran around the back, behind Martin Kelly, and Silva’s pass found him. Sane finished into the bottom corner. A clever team just as precise and incisive as the first.

Gabriel still wanted a goal for himself and should have had one when he beat Kelly and skipped past Hennessey in the last minute, only to slip on the wet turf.

There was just enough time for a third, and it came not from the debutant but from a City veteran. Toure had a free-kick 30 yards from goal which he curled into the near top corner of the goal. City’s past did not want the whole afternoon to be about City’s future.

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Hennessey; Ward, Kelly, Tomkins, Schlupp (Fryers, 75); Flamini, Ledley; Lee, Mutch (McArthur, 65), Townsend; Benteke (Remy, 45).

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Caballero; Sagna, Kompany, Kolarov, Clichy; Toure, Delph; Sterling (Navas, 66), Silva (Fernando, 78), Sane (Nolito, 84); Gabriel.

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Sutton's veteran goalscorer Matt Tubbs ready to face Leeds and spring another FA Cup upset

Matt Tubbs has scored goals in the Southern League Division One East, in the Isthmian Premier, in the Southern Premier, in the Conference South and in the Conference itself. He has scored goals in League Two, even in League One, and, for the last few years, back in what is now the National League. He is one of the most reliable non-league and lower-league goal-scorers of his generation. But most famously of all he has scored goals in the FA Cup.

That is where Tubbs made his name, first with Salisbury City and then with Crawley Town. On Sunday he will play another huge cup tie, for his new side Sutton United, who host Leeds United. It is the tie of the fourth round, the one-time winners, three-time finalists, in their best form for 15 years, going to Gander Green Lane to play on their artificial pitch.

It is a huge game and even a draw could provide money to change the long-term future of Sutton United. It might sound daunting but Tubbs at 32 years old has seen it all before. He has only been at Sutton for two months but is already taking on a leadership role there, giving the young players at Sutton the benefit of his experience. He knows what it takes in games like this, and knows how teams with limited resources can spring an upset.

Before the Wimbledon game he told the youngsters how to cope with a 5,000 capacity crowd, giving advice that will be just as useful against Leeds today. “Just don't let the occasion get to you,” Tubbs said. “At the end of the day it's just 11 v 11 on the same size pitch you play every week on. It's just a case of getting your head down and focusing on what you have to do.”

For Tubbs, Sutton is very reminiscent of back where it all began for him at Salisbury City, the club who he helped to drag from step four all the way up to step one thanks to truckloads of his goals. “We only train twice a week, that's what Salisbury do,” Tubbs said. “The team spirit at Salisbury was unbelievable. You can see here the team spirit is brilliant as well. Throughout the course of a season, team spirit gets you a long way. It gets you through tough games. Hopefully with team spirit, and the home fans, we can get a good result.”

Tubbs is from Salisbury and joined his home-town club at the age of 19, after being released by Bolton Wanderers and a brief spell at Dorchester Town. He was skinny and never exactly quick but he always had a great nose for goal. Spending most of his time working as a lifeguard in a local leisure centre, he toughened up and learned how to impose himself in the box.

The goals started to flow for Tubbs, he was clearly too good for the Dr Martens leagues, and he shot Salisbury up the leagues but his biggest moment came in the FA Cup. It was December 2006 and Nottingham Forest came to the Raymond McEnhill stadium in the second round. Tubbs gave a young Wes Morgan the run-around, scoring an equaliser to earn a lucrative replay.

Tubbs was Salisbury’s talisman, heroically popular with fans and players, keeping an eye out for the youngsters, leading the punishing fitness runs up on Salisbury Plain. Inevitably big teams wanted him and in 2010 Steve Evans’ Crawley Town signed him for £50,000.

Again, Tubbs shone in the FA Cup. His goals sent Crawley Town on a famous run in the cup in 2011, his fourth round winner at Crawley taking them to play Manchester United in the fifth round. “To play at Old Trafford in front of a full house was amazing,” he said. Crawley lost 1-0.

The next year Crawley went on another good run, Tubbs’ goals knocking out Bristol City in the third round and Hull City in the fourth, only to bravely lose to a full strength Stoke City side in the fifth.

Tubbs did not play that game having been sold to Bournemouth for £800,000 just beforehand, in the January 2012 window, signing a three and a half year deal. He did not score as many goals up in League One but went on to have success at Wimbledon and Portsmouth in League Two, before dropping back down to the National League.

It has been a special career that few would have predicted when he started out. “I think I've been privileged to play with good players,” Tubbs modestly explains. “My game is not about doing five stepovers and bending one in the top corner. That's not my game. My game is poaching and feeding on crosses. I've been lucky enough to play with some great players who have made me the player I am today.“

In reality, he is a tribute to his own hard work and commitment to making the most of his ability. Tom Killick was his coach at Salisbury and is now manager of Poole Town, where he also coached Charlie Austin. Killick sees a similarity between two men launched out of non-league who went on to achieve a lot.

“Charlie and Matt both have belief in themselves, a real hunger and drive, and a steely desire to improve” Killick told The Independent. “That is what separates them from players they played with. Whatever pitch they walked onto, they would feel confident they could score a goal, and if they missed a few chances they would always feel they could score the next one.” Leeds United be warned.

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Arsene Wenger given four-game Arsenal touchline ban for official confrontation

Arsene Wenger has been struck with a four-match touchline ban for pushing fourth official Anthony Taylor during Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Burnley on Sunday.

The Arsenal manager has also been fined £25,000 for misconduct for the unsavoury scenes which marred the end of Sunday’s win. Wenger was sent off from the technical area after protesting against Jon Moss awarding Burnley a penalty. When Taylor told Wenger he could not watch added time from the tunnel, Wenger pushed him.

Wenger will now have to watch Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round game at Southampton from the stands. He will also be absent from the touchline for the three Premier League games against Watford, the crucial title clash at Stamford Bridge on 4 February, and then the home tie with Hull City the following week.

The Arsenal manager was charged with misconduct earlier this week and he accepted the charge while requesting a personal hearing. That was held before an independent regulatory commission on Friday, who decided on the four-game ban. “It was alleged that he used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official,” and FA statement read. “It was further alleged that following his dismissal from the technical area, his behaviour in remaining in the tunnel area and making physical contact with the fourth official amounted to improper conduct.”

Wenger immediately admitted his wrong-doing after the game. “I regret everything,” Wenger said after the game. “I should have shut up, gone in and gone home. I apologise for that.”

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Mauricio Pochettino reveals why he had to visit ex-Tottenham talent Ryan Mason in hospital

Ryan Mason will always be a special player and a special person to Mauricio Pochettino. It was Mason who Pochettino anchored his midfield around in his first season at White Hart Lane. It was Mason who turned the crucial Capital One Cup game against Nottingham Forest when nothing seemed to be going right for the new manager. So when Mason left for Hull City last summer it was, in Pochettino’s own words, “very difficult”. But, in the manager’s own words, “the love will always be there”.

That is the background for Pochettino going to see Mason at St Mary’s Hospital in west London on Thursday afternoon, along with his assistant Jesus Perez and Tottenham academy manager John McDermott. Pochettino and his staff would have gone sooner but for the fact that they were in Barcelona training from Sunday, when the injury happened, until late on Wednesday night.

So Pochettino, Perez and McDermott drove down from Spurs’ training base in Enfield to the hospital in Paddington, after Pochettino’s press conference on Thursday afternoon. “For me he is a very special player, a very special person,” Pochettino said just before leaving. “For my presence here today, he deserves a lot of credit, because he helped us a lot. For that he is a special player, and will always be special.”

It all goes back to the summer of 2014 when Pochettino arrived at Spurs from Southampton and was looking for a new generation of talented young English players at Tottenham to bring through. 23-year-old Mason had always been highly rated but had struggled with injuries and unsatisfactory loan deals. But Pochettino saw something in him he could work with.

“When we arrived at Tottenham, we saw he was a player with big talents but with a bit of bad luck in his career,” Pochettino remembered. “In that moment it was a challenge to try to provide him the tools to be a first-team player. I think we were right to believe and trust in him.”

One month into the season Spurs were struggling, without a win in four, having lost consecutive home league games to Liverpool and West Bromwich Albion. They were hosting Nottingham Forest in the Capital One Cup and were 1-0 down. So Pochettino threw on Mason and Harry Kane, neither regular first-teamers, for Paulinho and Benjamin Stambouli, two older players Pochettino was never truly sold on.

With his first real action, Mason curled one into the top corner from 30 yards. Then a back-heel started the move that put Spurs ahead, before Kane scored the third at the end. It was a crucial contribution, securing Mason’s place in Pochettino’s plans. It owed almost entirely to Mason impressing McDermott for the Under-21s two days before.

“I remember he had played at Sunderland for the Under-21s on Monday, very, very late,” Pochettino remembered. “I called McDermott who said Ryan was fantastic for 90 minutes, he fought, showed character on a very difficult pitch, it was very cold and not good conditions to play. So I said to Ryan, ‘tomorrow you train with us’. After training, he was in the squad and on the bench for the Nottingham Forest game.”

“That was a difficult game and I turned to Jesus and said ‘tell Ryan to get ready.’ And with his first touch of the ball he scored an unbelievable goal. It started to change his time here, it was fantastic.”

Mason did so well that game that he started at Arsenal three days later, his first ever Premier League start. He finished the season with 29 league starts, a remarkable record that no-one would have predicted back in August.

Another moment that stands out for Pochettino was the trip to Villa Park on 2 November 2014. Spurs were 1-0 down and struggling. Mason engineered a confrontation with Christian Benteke, which led to the Villa man being sent off. Spurs scored two late goals and won 2-1.

“True, it was a little bit naughty in the Aston Villa game,” Pochettino remembered, “but remember his contribution in the game, as we were in a very difficult position. He deserves a lot of credit as he helped us and the team. It is for that that he will always be a special player for me.”

It was very difficult but you know, that is football. We have split now, but the love will always be there. You can split physically, but the emotion you keep inside always.

Mauricio Pochettino

Mason took a special place in the heart of Pochettino, his staff, and family. So it was difficult when he was sold last summer. “I cannot lie, he is special,” Pochettino said. “When he took the decision to move to Hull, it was a very tough moment for me. It was very difficult but you know, that is football. We have split now, but the love will always be there. You can split physically, but the emotion you keep inside always.”

It was even harder for Pochettino, his staff and the Spurs squad, watching Chelsea v Hull in Barcelona on Sunday, to see what happened to their former team-mate when he collided with Gary Cahill. “We have kept in touch with his family, his fiancee and it was a difficult moment,” Pochettino said. “We were very worried about what happened. Like all of the people that know him, it was hard and was difficult to see.” The rest of the Spurs squad sent Mason a video message.

Pochettino also revealed that Spurs are expecting Erik Lamela to return to the club on Friday after spending most of January in Rome working to recover from a hip injury. Lamela has not played for Spurs for three months following a combination of injuries and personal problems.

“The moment he arrives we will assess him,” Pochettino said. “The last scan in Roma showed there was no issue, there is still pain in his hip joint but now it is important to meet us and stay here with the group and push him to keep his fitness and achieve the level of the team and be available as soon as possible.”

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Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham staff visit Hull City's Ryan Mason in hospital

Mauricio Pochettino and his staff have visited former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Ryan Mason in hospital this afternoon as he continues to recover from his fractured skull.

Mason, who Spurs sold to Hull City last summer, was injured playing against Chelsea last Sunday and has been at St Mary’s Paddington hospital in west London since then. Pochettino would have visited Mason sooner but for the fact that Tottenham were training in Barcelona for the first half of this week, only arriving back in London late on Wednesday evening.

Pochettino along with assistant Jesus Perez and academy manager John McDermott drove down to St Mary’s hospital on Thursday afternoon following training.

“We were in Barcelona on Sunday watching the game and saw live the situation,” Pochettino said at his press conference today. “We have kept in touch with his family, his fiancee and it was a difficult moment. We were very worried about what happened. Like all of the people that know him, it was hard and was difficult to see.”

Mason was an important part of Pochettino’s team for his first two seasons at Spurs before his departure to Hull City last year. The Spurs squad sent him a video message from Barcelona and Pochettino said that he “loves” the 25-year-old midfielder.

“He is a special player for us, and for me personally,” Pochettino said. “He grew up here at Tottenham, he is a person that we love. He is a player who is strong in his mind, his mentality and his personality. He has suffered a lot of injuries in the past, and I’m sure he can recover as soon as possible.”

Pochettino also revealed that Spurs are expecting Erik Lamela to return to the club on Friday after spending most of January in Rome working to recover from a hip injury. Lamela has not played for Spurs for three months following a combination of injuries and personal problems.

“The moment he arrives we will assess him,” Pochettino said. “The last scan in Roma showed there was no issue, there is still pain in his hip joint but now it is important to meet us and stay here with the group and push him to keep his fitness and achieve the level of the team and be available as soon as possible.”

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QPR set to sign Manchester United youngster Sean Goss for £500,000

Queens Park Rangers are set to sign Sean Goss from Manchester United for an initial fee of £500,000, with the potential to rise to £800,000. He will finalise personal terms and undergo a medical tomorrow before completing his move to Loftus Road before the weekend.

The midfielder will be Ian Holloway’s second signing of the January window after Kazenga LuaLua and is expected to be part of QPR’s squad for Saturday’s Championship game at home against Burton Albion.

Goss has six months left on his contract at Manchester United and has rejected a new deal at Old Trafford in pursuit of first-team football. He could have waited until the summer to sign a lucrative deal with an interested Premier League club but has decided to leave this month. Wigan Athletic and Barnsley were also keen on Goss but after a positive meeting with Ian Holloway earlier this week he has chosen to move to Loftus Road.

Goss is a lifelong Manchester United fan who was signed at the age of 17 after impressing in the AEGON Future Cup in 2012. A naturally gifted left-footed midfielder, who has also played at left-back, Goss has always been highly rated within United. He was on the fringes of the first team under Louis van Gaal but missed most of 2016 with a stress fracture to his back. Rather than staying at United he has decided to seek first-team football in the Championship, starting this weekend.

Ian Holloway has been putting his stamp on the QPR squad this January, bringing in Goss and LuaLua, while moving on Sandro, Tjaronn Chery, Sebastian Polter and Ariel Borysiuk. After a difficult start Holloway’s QPR are not unbeaten in four games and have moved back into mid table.

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Crystal Palace closing on Luka Milivojevic transfer as Sam Allardyce aims to bolster midfield

Crystal Palace are closing in on the £13m signing of Serbian midfielder Luka Milivojevic from Olympiacos.

Sam Allardyce is desperate to strengthen his midfield, which has been short ever since Mile Jedinak was sold to Aston Villa, and is interested in Yann M’Vila from Rubin Kazan.

But Milivojevic has emerged ahead of M'Vila this week as a more likely signing before the end of the window. Palace are locked in negotiations with Olympiacos to complete a deal but the basics are in place and the fee will be just under £13m (€15m). The sticking point between the two clubs is the percentage of any future sale that Olympiacos are entitled to, with the Greek club pushing for 20 per cent.

Allardyce turned his attention to Milivojevic after becoming frustrated in his pursuit of M’Vila, who spent last season playing for Allardyce on loan to Sunderland from his Russian club side.

The Eagles boss admitted earlier this month that he was frustrated by the fees being demanded by selling clubs and that he was struggling to get new faces in.

However, he signed Leicester wideman Jeffrey Schlupp last week for a deal that could reach £12million and retains an interest in Patrick van Aanholt, another ex-Sunderland player, and Carl Jenkinson of Arsenal.

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Why Barcelona star Arda Turan has thrown his support behind Turkish president Erdogan again this week

When Turkey midfielder Arda Turan was preparing for his wedding to TV star Sinem Kobal in June 2013, they had an important decision to make. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was due to attend and, as a conservative Muslim, he did not approve of the drinking of alcohol. So Turan, a vocal supporter of Erdogan’s Islamist government, said that no alcohol would be served until Erdogan left, out of respect.

The wedding never happened and within a few months the couple had separated. But the bond between Turan and Erdogan is as strong as ever, almost four years on. Erdogan is now President and is planning a new referendum to expand his powers. And Turan, who now plays his club football for Barcelona, is his most prominent celebrity backer.

Erdogan has been ruling Turkey for 14 years now, concentrating powers in his Justice and Development Party. He went from being Prime Minister to President in 2014 and the latest step is a referendum to give himself more powers over spending, and appointing judges, turning a nominally-ceremonial role into an all-powerful one.

This week Turan voiced his support for Erdogan’s power grab. “For a strong Turkey,” Turan said in a recorded message, “I am in.”

It was only natural for Turan to support Erdogan like this. The relationship between the most powerful man in Turkey and the most popular footballer benefits both men. Turkey were dismal at Euro 2016 and Arda, their captain, was booed by their fans in France. Erdogan took the unusual step of defending the captain in public, and even advising coach Fatih Terim that Turan should still be an important part of his team. Turan thanked Erdogan in turn on Instagram, to his 6.2million followers. After the attempted coup last July, Turan made it very clear he supported his president.

None of this has gone down very well with many Turkish football fans, many of whom oppose the Erdogan regime. When Galatasaray opened their new stadium, the Turk Telekom Arena, in 2011, Erdogan was booed and jeered at the ceremony. Besiktas’ left-wing ultras, the carsi, were instrumental in the Gezi Park protests against the government in the summer of 2013. He is not very popular at Fenerbahce either. This has put the big Istanbul clubs themselves in a difficult position, trying to tread a line between defence to their fans and not upsetting a regime who they cannot afford to upset.

Turan, though, has no interest in treading a line. His allegiance is to Erdogan. But he may pay attention to the stroy Hakan Sukur, the last Turkish football hero to get involved with politics. In 2011, three years after retiring as a player, he became an MP for Erdogan’s party. He grew disaffected, left the party and became a critic. Last August, after the failed coup, the government issued an arrest warrant for Sukur, claiming he was part of an armed terrorist group.

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Dimitri Payet's transfer standstill is holding up a complex chain of moves affecting at least five clubs

Negotiations between West Ham United and Marseille for Dimitri Payet has created a chain of transfers that cannot be completed until Payet is sold. The chain leads through the Championship all the way down to Coventry City, currently at the bottom of League One.

Payet has made no secret of his desperation to return to Marseille for family reasons. West Ham accept that a sale is the best option for all parties but they have not yet received an offer anywhere near their valuation from the French club.

Marseille have made three bids for Payet so far, the third of which was just under £23million. West Ham’s initial asking price was £35m, far beyond Marseille’s reach, but there is now confidence in France that West Ham will sell for somewhere just above £25m. Marseille are in no rush, though, and want to push West Ham all the way until the end of window to get the best deal for the player they sold to West Ham for £10.7m in 2015.

But until Payet is sold to Marseille, West Ham are reluctant to close the deal for Scott Hogan, the Brentford forward they are chasing. West Ham and Brentford have agreed a basic fee close to £12m but are still haggling over add-ons that could take the total deal closer to £15m. No deal between the clubs has been reached yet but Hogan has been left out of Brentford’s side recently in expectation that it will.

Brentford have already lined up the players they want to sign when Hogan is sold. Dean Smith wants more talented youngsters in his side so has targeted Sergi Canos, so impressive at Griffin Park last year, and Ben Stevenson of Coventry City.

Norwich City will sell Canos for £2.5million, the fee they paid for him, but Brentford cannot make a formal bid until they have the Hogan money. Canos would like to return to Brentford, but Leeds United are also keen.

Brentford made two bids of £500,000 and £1m for Stevenson at the start of the month and wanted the deal done quickly. Coventry were initially looking for £1.5m but now that they know Brentford are likely to sell Hogan, they want closer to £2.5m for their most talented youngster.

The likelihood is that all four deals will be completed by the end of the month although Payet will have to be sold for the rest of the deals to happen, leaving Brentford, Norwich and Coventry waiting.

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Antonio Conte insists there is no such thing as a one-horse race - but Chelsea are proving otherwise

Antonio Conte has a long memory and few press conferences go by without a reference to his playing days. He knows something about winning titles too, having won five Scudetti with Juventus as a player and another three at the same club as manager.

So Conte knows that a title race is never over until the end. His Chelsea team may be eight points clear with 16 games left, but he has seen races swing away over much shorter run-ins than that. After Sunday afternoon’s defeat of Hull City, asked whether the title was his to lose, he pointed back to two other examples from his playing history: snatching one title, blowing another, over the final few games.

Back in the 1999-2000 season Conte’s Juve were five points clear at the top of Serie A with four games left. But they stumbled to away defeats at Verona and Perugia and Sven-Goran Eriksson’s big-money Lazio pinched the title instead.

Two years later, Conte was a veteran in Marcello Lippi’s side and with five games left they were stuck in third, behind Roma and a whole six points behind leaders Internazionale. But they won their last five, Inter fell away, and the title went back to Turin.

“From my experience, in my career as footballer, I have won one title and lost one [that looked unlikely] four games from the end,” Conte said. “Now we have an eight point lead with 16 games to play. Me and my players need to know that this league will be very tough until the end.”

Conte will not leave his Chelsea players in any doubt about the amount of work they still have left to do. Because the fact is that only complacency can stop Chelsea from winning the title from here.

Yes, 16 games left means more than 40 per cent of the season remains. But that does not mean Chelsea are likelier to fall away. Their eight-point gap is likelier to grow than to shrink, for the simple reason that they are clearly a superior team to any of their rivals.

Last season was an exciting title race because there was always the lingering question of whether Leicester were good enough to hold onto the lead. The best title race of recent years was 2013-14 when three flawed teams, Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool, took it in turns to blow the lead before City scraped over the line at the end.

But just as often as that we have non-races, where the eventual winner is so much better than everyone else that the title is confirmed with games to go, having felt inevitable long before that: such as Chelsea in 2015 or Manchester United in 2013. This season is facing the same prospect. Chelsea do not even have the draining prospect of the Champions League knock-out rounds, that cost them the title in 2014, to distract them.

What is so ominous about Chelsea this week is that they have shrugged off two potential obstacles, the 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane and China’s head-turning offer for Diego Costa. There is no reason to believe now, other than serious injuries to Costa and Eden Hazard, that they won’t win the title in May.

But what if that does happen? What if the goals dry up and suddenly Chelsea start dropping points? It would take one of the chasing pack to show much better form than they have been to catch them.

Arsenal are second, eight points back, and have found some stability after damaging defeats at Everton and Manchester City last month. But the last time they produced a good performance to beat a rival was back in September, against a very different Chelsea side.

PointAfter | Graphiq

Liverpool were the best team in the country over the start of the season but they have shown how much they miss Sadio Mane this month, with just one win in six, and that coming against Plymouth Argyle. Their first eleven is a fearsome prospect but they will need to rediscover the fizz and zip they showed in the autumn to make up any ground.

Manchester City are brilliant on their day but no team has ever won the title with a goalkeeper and defence as bad as theirs. Pep Guardiola may be a tactical genius but even he cannot square that circle.

Which leaves us with Tottenham Hotspur, the team who played the best football for most of last season but could not keep it up in March, April and May.

This year they are playing even better, more expansively than anyone, and of course they are the only team since September to beat Chelsea. They have to make up nine points on Chelsea, as well as managing their Europa League campaign, and riding out the typical April dip that afflicts Mauricio Pochettino teams.

They could play brilliantly for the next two months and still do what they did last spring. And yet even their slim chance of catching Chelsea is better than anyone else’s. Conte may warn of Lazio in 2000, but the Premier League engravers can get to work.

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Why the Premier League is so dependent on Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa but powerless to stop them going

At the Emirates on Sunday just after 4pm Alexis Sanchez floated in a high-pressure last-gasp penalty kick, for his 15th Premier League goal of the season, to secure the win that took Arsenal to second.

At Stamford Bridge soon after 5pm Diego Costa stroked the ball into the bottom corner, for his own 15th league goal, to set up the win that kept Chelsea eight points clear of Arsenal at the top. Any questions about his inclusion had been wholly answered.

It was another afternoon which showed just how indebted England’s best teams are to these South American strikers. Liverpool, of course, have Roberto Firmino, who scored his seventh and eighth league goals on Saturday, with Philippe Coutinho in support. Manchester City have Sergio Aguero (11 league goals) and now Gabriel Jesus too.

And yet as Arsenal and Chelsea know desperately well by now, they cannot secure the futures of these two indispensable men. Sanchez has 18 months remaining on his Arsenal contract and he has been offered a £25million salary by Hebei China Fortune. Arsenal have found negotiating a new deal for him desperately hard and they will have to break their own wage structure to get anywhere near what Sanchez wants. Wenger is asked about this at his press conference every week but can never give new answers.

The Diego Costa saga has not been running for quite as long but the outline is the same. He has one more year on his contract than Sanchez, taking him to June 2019 not 2018. But he has a £30m salary offer from Tianjin Quanjian and, quite understandably, he wants to take it up. Chelsea will not offer him anything like that but by this summer they will likely either let him go to China, back to Atletico Madrid, or try to keep him with a generous pay-rise.

It is very plausible that for both Costa and Sanchez, this will be their third and final season in England. It would be a desperate shame for the Premier League to lose its two most effective attacking players. If they go they will not be replaced by players nearly as good.

But this is the dilemma that English football has been in for the last 10 years or so, ever since it became so reliant on importing its strikers from South America, because Europe does not produce them anymore. All of the best strikers in England, certainly since Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid, have come from South America, growing up in a far more competitive, far less structured environment. At least one of Carlos Tevez, Aguero and Luis Suarez has been in the top three goal-scorers every season since 2009-10. A plush academy is not as good an education as the street.

Tevez and Suarez achieved great things in English football, Tevez winning the title with both Manchester clubs, Suarez nearly winning the 2014 title for Liverpool single-handedly. But for both players their time here was dominated by their own obvious discomfort at living and playing in England. Tevez had his five-month strike during the 2011-12 season, Suarez repeatedly agitated for moves before joining Barcelona in 2014.

Costa and Sanchez could be as effective as Tevez and Suarez but we must not kid ourselves that they are in England for the long-haul. They are a long way from home here and while their big Home Counties houses must be comfortable that does not mean the same as comforting. If they are offered four or five times their salary to go and play in a country that is not four or five times more alien then it is not as strange a decision as has been made out.

For as long as English football has the crowds, the TV deals and the money but not the strikers of its own to give the teams their edge then they will always be willing to pay big money to men who can. But when a new league offers these men even bigger money then who are we to complain?

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Ryan Mason in 'stable condition' after suffering fractured skull in collision with Chelsea's Gary Cahill

Hull City confirmed late on Sunday night that their midfielder Ryan Mason has undergone surgery after fracturing his skull during Hull's 2-0 defeat on Sunday.

Mason was stretchered off in the first half after a clash of heads with Chelsea's Gary Cahill, which led to an eight-minute stoppage in play as he was given oxygen. Mason was taken straight to St Mary's Paddington hospital.

After undergoing surgery he is now said to be in a “stable condition” and he will be kept in hospital for the next few days.

"The club can confirm that Ryan Mason sustained a skull fracture in our fixture at Chelsea this afternoon," said a Hull City statement on Sunday night.

"Everyone at the club would like to express their sincere thanks for the excellent and swift care given to Ryan by both the Accident and Emergency department and Neurosurgery Unit at St Mary's Hospital."

Hull City manager Marco Silva said after the game that he expected Mason to stay in hospital after the collision with Cahill. “I imagine in this moment that he will stay in hospital,” Silva said. “I hope nothing special, nothing serious, but we'll see. I don't know if he is awake. He doctor told me he was in the hospital and we await news.”

Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte said: "Everyone at Chelsea wants to wish for him the best."

Mason joined Hull in August last year after being frustrated by a lack of first-team football at Tottenham, where he came through the ranks while also spending time out on loan at Yeovil, Doncaster, Millwall, Lorient and Swindon.

Capped a number of times at youth level by England, Mason's only senior appearance to date came in a friendly against Italy in March 2015, where he set up Andros Townsend's late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

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Antonio Conte insists Diego Costa is staying at Chelsea - for now

Antonio Conte insisted said that Diego Costa’s Chelsea future was settled until the end of the season after the controversial striker scored on his return to the first team against Hull City. Costa scored just before half-time in a game that Chelsea won 2-0, putting them eight points clear at the top of the Premier League with just 16 games left this season.

Costa had been dropped for last Saturday’s trip to Leicester City after having his head turned by a £30million salary offer from Tianjin Quanjian. Chelsea always insisted that Costa was not for sale and Conte said that his goal-scoring return to the team meant that he was going nowhere this January. But when Conte was asked whether Costa would sign a new deal to secure his future beyond this season, he could offer no assurances.

“It is important Diego played a good game, and I hope with this game to finish the speculation about him, about me and him, and about Chelsea,” Conte said. “I think we showed that we are a team with a great unity, and I think this is the real value that helps us stay top of the table.”

Costa’s Chelsea contract lasts until June 2019 meaning that the club will have to either sell him or offer him a new deal this summer, when he will have two years left. It is no secret that Costa wanted to go back to Atletico Madrid last summer, or that he wanted to go to China earlier this month. While a new deal would secure Costa’s future, Conte could not promise that he would sign one, and said he would not try to “see too far into the future”.

“Diego has two years of contract, before his contract expires with Chelsea,” he said. “I think his contract puts to an end all the speculation. I repeat: he's very happy to stay with us and to play with Chelsea. For us, now, it's very important for us to concentrate on the present and not try and see too far into the future. That will risk us not seeing the present.”

Conte admitted that any decisions on Costa’s future would be taken by the club’s board and would not just be down to him. “A new contract? I don't know,” Conte said. “This decision is something you have to take together with the club. But, I repeat, I don't see any problem with Diego and his contract.”

Conte said that his Chelsea team were not at their best against Hull but was pleased with the professionalism they showed. “For sure this game wasn't our best game,” he said. “But I think it's normal, because we are in the second part of the season, and the points now are heavy for us but also for the other teams. Today the points were very heavy for Hull City because they are in the relegation zone. We faced a really good team in good form and with good organisation.”