Tottenham Hotspur will face West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed to The Sun how he plans to negate the threat posed by West Ham United attacking midfielder Dimitri Payet.
Spurs will take on London rivals West Ham at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
Payet is set to start for the Hammers and will be a key player for Slaven Bilic’s side in the London derby.
Although Pochettino has said that he does not have a specific plan on how to stop the France international from playing his game, he has highlighted how to cope with the threat posed by the 29-year-old.
“When I started as a manager and faced Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, it was never my intention to try to do something special or be focused on trying to stop this type of player,” Pochettino told The Sun. “So I will not do it now.
“The most important thing is for us to try to recover the ball quickly, to have the ball more than them and focus on how we need to damage our opponents.
“It’s true that when you have a type of player like Payet in front of you, the players in his zone need to be aggressive, tight, try to anticipate and not give him space to play. It’s true that we’re talking about that but it’s not a special mark on him.”
Payet is one of the best players in the Premier League and a key figure in the West Ham team.
The 29-year-old has scored one goal and created 40 chances in nine league matches for the Hammers so far this season.
The former Marseille star is not exactly in great form at the moment, and Spurs will have a great chance of winning if they are able to keep him quiet.
Tottenham are not in great form either, and have to pick up all three points this evening in order to maintain their challenge for the Premier League title this season.
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