Mauricio Pochettino will not receive opposition from anybody at Tottenham Hotspur – least of all chairman Daniel Levy – over his assessment that trophies build egos and Champions League qualification and participation builds the club.

Pochettino stirred up the debate over whether or not he and Spurs need to win a trophy, following the FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace just a few days after their Carabao Cup elimination to Chelsea.

Critics claim Pochettino needs to win a trophy to prove himself one of the best managers in the world, but that is not a view shared by Levy or the Tottenham board.

Pochettino has insisted on numerous occasions that his brief from Levy, when he was appointed in 2014, was to have Tottenham competing to qualify for the Champions League by the time they moved into their new stadium.

Having qualified for the Champions League on three successive occasions, Pochettino is well ahead of schedule and another top-four finish is now more important than ever with Tottenham finally preparing to start life in their delayed stadium, with the cost of the overall project set to exceed £1 billion.