Mauricio Pochettino reacts to Georges-Kevin Nkoudou’s shock Tottenham cameo

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Tottenham Hotspur beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage today.

Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has told Football.London that Georges-Kevin Nkoudou will have a chance to play in the first team after setting up the winner against Fulham today.

Spurs made the short trip to West London to take on Fulham this afternoon in a crucial game, given that they were without both Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Pochettino’s side were dreadful in the first half and were lucky to only be 1-0 down, as Fernando Llorente – picked as the replacement for injured Kane – put the ball in his own net.

Spurs came out much better in the second half as Dele Alli headed home Christian Eriksen’s cross to bring Tottenham level, before Alli himself picked up a hamstring injury.

It looked like Spurs would have to make do with a point, but substitute Nkoudou whipped in a superb cross for Harry Winks to snatch an injury-time winner for Spurs.

Tottenham cooked up a dramatic end to the game, and much of the talk has been about the shock impact Nkoudou was able to make as a surprise substitute.

The 23-year-old had made just 24 appearances for Spurs since a 2016 move from Marseille and just one substitute appearance this season, before coming on to change the game for Spurs today with a fine delivery.

With so many attacking injuries, Nkoudou has put himself in contention to play – and despite rumours of an exit this month, Pochettino has admitted that Nkoudou can now feature more regularly if he turns in performances like this, praising his cross as ‘perfect’.

“You know, at the moment, like other players, we struggle with players we have injured and of course he has the possibility to play,” said Pochettino. “If we see the fixtures that we have ahead, we need him and all the players we had today. With all our injuries, with Sonny out, with Dembele out, still Wanyama. I think many situations can arrive. I think we need all the players today. Of course he’s disappointed because he didn’t play too much until now, but now if there is the possibility like today and he shows this type of performance – i think the cross was perfect – of course he will have the possibility to play,” he added.