Spurs will turn Wembley into a fortress, says Mauricio Pochettino

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Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has promised that Spurs fans will turn Wembley into a home fortress for the club.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has warned rivals that his team are ready to turn Wembley into a fortress this season, as quoted by the London Evening Standard.

The North London club are set to play their home Champions League fixtures at the national stadium this season, with regular stadium White Hart Lane currently unusable due to construction work.

Ahead of their first European fixture of the year – a clash against French side AS Monaco – Spurs have sold all 80,000 of their available tickets, with the game set to be carried out in front of a capacity crowd.

Despite looking set to break the English record for a Champions League home fixture, however, some critics have claimed that Spurs will be unable to match the atmosphere normally experienced within White Hart Lane.

During Spurs’ last foray into Europe’s premier competition, their home form at the Lane was key to their unexpected success – with the club eventually being eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Ahead of their first return to the competition since their 2010-2011 success, though, manager Pochettino was quick to dismiss claims that Spurs may struggle to replicate the atmosphere.

“The way we play, we can play well and intimidate teams, whether that is at White Hart Lane or any stadium.” Pochettino told the Evening Standard. “We felt very good when we trained at Wembley last month, and it can be a very good home.”

Spurs are set to move into a new 61,000-seater stadium at the start of the 2018-2019 Premier League campaign, but will be forced to play a large proportion of their home games away from White Hart Lane whilst work continues.

With their current ground also only holding 36,284 when at capacity, there had also been worries that Spurs would be unable to fill Wembley ahead of their debut game.

Manager Pochettino was again quick to quash these suggestions, however, claiming that the 80,000 sold tickets more than proves the size of the club’s fan-base.

“It is a good opportunity to really understand the size of this club,” he added. “When we have the possibility to bring 90,000 fans, maybe people will realise our size.

“Can we make it feel the same as White Hart Lane? We will try. We need to feel it is our house and behave the same way as we do at our current ground.”