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Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has been talking about how the club fights with their big-spending rivals and pointed to Chelsea's signing of Christian Pulisic as one difference.

The Blues signed Pulisic for £58m from Borussia Dortmund this week and then immediately loaned him back to the Bundesliga club for the rest of the campaign.

Pochettino said that showed the gulf between Tottenham and their rivals yet he finds it odd that the north London side are seen as the ones to shoot down.

"It's true we're the team to beat. Remember when we fought with Leicester, everyone wanted to kill us. That's because they showed respect to us because in the project that we are in – because for many people we're not very successful because we still haven't won a trophy – [yet] the people respect us in the way we're doing it," he said.

"It's not being arrogant, it's being realistic. 'Oh why are Tottenham there?' A club like Chelsea can spend big money on a transfer and then send him on loan – do you think Tottenham can do this? No.

"But in the last few years Tottenham is fighting with this type of club. That is why no-one likes Tottenham much, that is why everyone wants to challenge us.

"It's a massive game every time. Wolves beat us and they behaved like they won the Premier League. Then yesterday they lost to Crystal Palace. It's because Tottenham have created something special in this country and now we are a target. I promise, it's not about being arrogant. That shows the respect the football people have [for us]."

(Image: Justin Berl/Getty Images)

Tottenham spend very little in the transfer market and look to bring through young British players, doing it in what is often called 'the right way' and Pochettino was left non-plussed as to why Spurs are not seen as the good guys in English football.

"Maybe we're not the good guys, eh? Yes, it's a little bit weird, the perception. It's weird. I don't know why, it's difficult to find the right answer," he said.

"When we started, it was nice. 'Oh Tottenham, very nice guys'. And then when we started to be there, everyone said, 'They are going to go down'. And then we were there again and there again and they start to say, 'Maybe now they're a problem. They're showing they can do a similar thing in a different way!'."

It was put to the Spurs manager that perhaps that is the price of success.

"What is success? We still don't win any trophies!" he said while laughing. "The moment that we win, ok kill us! But now... Maybe if we win something it's the moment to go away!"

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