Mauricio Pochettino believes his former club Tottenham ‘are title contenders’, as the Chelsea boss revealed he is ‘so happy’ for Ange Postecoglou and his great start to the season. 

The Argentinian 51-year-old spoke to the press ahead of his first return to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Monday after he was sacked in 2019.

Asked whether he thought his former team were title contenders, Pochettino said ‘yes’ before revealing he is ‘so happy’ for the new manager and how the team have started the season. 

‘When people are doing well at the club I have been at, we keep these links and always we are happy when the club do well.

Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino sad he is ‘excited’ for a ‘special’ return to his former club

Pochettino believes Spurs are title contenders and he is ‘so happy’ for Postecoglu’s start

‘Yes [I think they are title contenders] even though it is very early in the season. They have very good players and a very good team.’ 

Asked what he made of Chelsea’s situation compared to Spurs and whether they were ‘underdogs’ heading into Monday night, he replied: ‘We are in a different project and situation, we are building for the future. Maybe we struggle a little in the beginning. 

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‘Maybe we deserve more because of our performance but we are still so young. We are in a different situation. No doubt in the future Chelsea will be in the same situation they were.’

After being replaced by Jose Mourinho in 2019, Pochettino was never given the chance to say goodbye to the club. 

Consequently, he said it will be ‘really special’ to come back after four years and speak to the staff he knew, but he does not know whether he will be booed by fans.

‘We will see on Monday night. But we cannot forget we made amazing memories at Tottenham. [The booing] it is not going to change my emotions about the club.’

Pochettino also said he has ‘not only a professional relationship’ with Levy who gave him the possibility to coach Spurs. He added that it will be ‘very strange’ to not see Harry Kane again. 

The Argentinian said it will be ‘really weird’ to not see Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane there