Goals from former Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley and Elijah Adebayo were not enough for the Hatters to claim a point but they ensured a nervous end to the year for the Blues boss. Pochettino discussed his emotions in those final moments in addition to providing his assessment on the contributions of goalscorers Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke, and a note on the transfer market.

What did you make of that performance?

I am so pleased, because I think it is never easy. We needed to win, I think we controlled the game until the second half, 60-65minutes. Overall we were the better side and fully deserved the result. Too many positive performances. When you concede you build the belief of the opponent. The Premier League is like this, if you see games like Arsenal, Liverpool, City, Newcastle, you understand the difficulty of playing here in this atmosphere. They believe in the way they play, very good players, very good coach and it is tough to play here. We needed the three points and we got what we wanted.

Two goals and an assist for Palmer, becoming more important?

What can I say? It is obvious he is an important player for us. Decisive player. Then scoring goals like this, I am so pleased with him and the team.

Looked to go long from Djordje Petrovic, was that a plan?

Not really. I didn’t see like this but I respect your view of the game. We play maybe passes longer than shorter but we try to play always being clever to avoid the pressure of Luton. We were combining, it was a mix and my view was mixed to play with longer distance, longer than shorter. Maybe yes, maybe no, I don’t know.

What were your emotions and what did you make of the final 20 minutes?

Emotion (laughs) emotion is about to win the game. You want to win the game and you are on the touchline trying to help with your decisions. In the end is about to perform and to manage well the players inside of the pitch in different situations. Football is about emotions, when you are winning like 3-0, always you are nervous because something can happen and put the game in a difficult situation. Then we concede one goal and it is normal, we build the belief of the opponent and in the Premier League, too many games that happen. The last game, Brighton again Tottenham, 4-0, then 4-2. That is why Premier League is tough.

Important for the team’s confidence to get an away win and record back to back victories?

Really important to finish 2023 well, look forward to 2024 to start well also. Really good to finish with good feelings and good to go into the new year with momentum.

PFA considering legal action over the number of games played, your thoughts?

My point of view is it is a business that provides too many people and too many different areas with a comfortable life. It is a business where players are the principal actors and we need to care about them. It is true that it is the only sport in the world where the players compete 10 or 11 months and sometimes I think we need to manage better the way to rest players, to give the possibility to recover. That is for sure. When you increase the level of competition, football is fast, players run more, we push them every day to improve, also they need rest and recovery. That is a good point to maybe talk, to all realise 11 players, and the squad to have 22, when the manager makes changes, not to play one starting XI every single game, or to restrict so you don’t start every 2 or 3 days like we are now, too many ideas that we need to share to find the best solution. I don’t know because it’s the first time I hear that, to start to find solution. Too many injuries the last few years and we need to be cautious about the situation and look after our players.

Another goal for Madueke, how important is it he can add competition?

It’s important. We have a group of players that all need to feel confident and they need to feel they can fight for their place. That is why you have a bigger squad, I think we have numbers and if we are all fit we have many players there that can perform and play. It is positive to increase the level in this position.