Mauricio Pochettino does not especially rejoice in local bragging rights and after securing Champions League football for a third consecutive season, he needed a nudge from Tottenham’s press officer to remind him of another achievement.

It was after Spurs’ 1-0 win over Newcastle in the penultimate game of the season, which not only clinched a spot in Europe’s top competition, but also confirmed Spurs as the top club in London for the first time in 23 years.

There has long been talk of a north London power-shift but capital domination has always seemed an altogether loftier aim for Spurs, given Chelsea’s resources and ability to regenerate.

Spurs’ local superiority might have been fleeting if Real Madrid had succeeded in luring Pochettino to Spain but, for this summer at least, the European champions’ interest appears to have ended as quickly as it began.

It was convenient that Pochettino was able to commit to Spurs at a prearranged event on Friday, the day after Zinedine Zidane’s shock resignation as Real boss, but it was nonetheless the second time in weeks the club have moved with impressive speed to avert a period of uncertainty.

The first followed Pochettino’s explosive call after the final game of the season for Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, to “be brave, take risks and work in a different way”.

The manager’s power-play was rewarded with a new five-year contract worth £8.5million per year and the promise of significant backing in the transfer market.

Pochettino’s polite yet flirtatious rejection of Real has added credibility to Spurs’ mantra that they will keep or off-load personnel on their own terms, and the club can approach the summer from a position of stability, with Pochettino’s power unprecedented. The 46-year-old has gradually grown in influence since arriving four years ago, switching from head coach to manager with his first five-year contract extension in May 2016.

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Pochettino — who idolises Sir Alex Ferguson and talked enviously of Arsene Wenger’s influence at Arsenal — has seen off a technical director and a head of recruitment to ensure his is the most important voice in Levy’s ear. Chairman and manager are part of a four-man transfer committee and Pochettino is at pains to stress that all decisions are made by the club.

In reality though, he is more influential than any of his predecessors in Levy’s 17-year chairmanship.

The situation could hardly be more different at Chelsea, where nothing is stable and no one, seemingly, is powerful. Seventeen days after winning the FA Cup, Antonio Conte is still the club’s head-coach in-limbo, but no one expects him to still be in charge in August. Chelsea are reluctant to hand Conte a £9m pay-off, while the club has allowed the deadline governing the £7m buyout clause in Maurizio Sarri’s contract at Napoli to pass.

While Spurs’ new stadium has risen with impressive speed from White Hart Lane’s ashes, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has called a halt to their own plans for a 60,000-capacity venue.

It is thought the Russian is no longer willing to commit funds to a project in a country where he does not feel welcome, after his UK visa was not extended amid heightened tensions between London and Moscow.

Although Abramovich can enter the UK with an Israeli visa, it is not clear that he especially wants to and his continued absence has widened the power-vacuum at Stamford Bridge, created by the resignation of technical director Michael Emenalo in November and made worse by Conte’s status.

Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard, the jewels in Chelsea’s crown, are watching developments with interest . Arsenal will hope to reclaim their position as Capital kings now that Wenger has finally departed but they can hardly claim to be in a position of stability given the seismic repercussions of the Frenchman’s exit after 22 years.

The Gunners are entering a period of fresh uncertainly under his replacement Unai Emery, who is faced with the not insignificant task of rebuilding a porous and unbalanced squad with just £50m.

Like Chelsea, Arsenal will recruit as a Europa League club this summer.

All this is not to say that Spurs do not face significant challenges, as Levy warned at the end of the season.

Real could yet return for Pochettino with more vigour, while Spurs accept that Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele and Danny Rose are likely to be sold this summer.

Doubts remain that their new stadium will be finished in time for the start of next season and the cost of the project, rapidly creeping towards £1billion, threatens to hamstring Pochettino’s efforts to build a squad capable of winning the Premier League or Champions League.

Crucially, though, Spurs have already done their most important piece of business this summer by tying Pochettino to a new contract. Across London, they still have it all to do.