Mauricio Pochettino has hit back at Antonio Conte by telling the Chelsea manager to stop belittling Tottenham and to start showing some respect to his players and club.

Conte claimed last week that it would “not be a tragedy” if Spurs failed to win the Premier League next season and insisted Chelsea were under far greater pressure to succeed than their London rivals.

And the Chelsea manager further stoked the fires by revealing Tottenham and England striker Harry Kane was his dream transfer target.

But Pochettino has warned Conte to stop obsessing about and disrespecting Spurs and says he could only laugh when he read the Italian’s remarks about Kane in the latest sign of the intense rivalry developing between the pair.

“It made me laugh because I don’t know why other people are so focused on my players and our club,” Pochettino said ahead of Tottenham’s pre-season tour game against Manchester City at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville on Saturday.