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Pochettino confident despite Kane absence

Cape Town - Mauricio Pochettino admitted his Spurs side were well below their best but saluted an important three points in the 2-1 win over Southampton on Sunday.

With Harry Kane injured, it was left to Heung-Min Son to run the line for the home side, but it was a superb Christian Eriksen strike that gave Spurs an early lead on 14 minutes

Dele Alli then picked himself up after being fouled to bury a 33rd minute penalty, and although James Ward-Prowse pulled a goal back on 52 minutes, the Premier League contenders saw out the win.

After the match, Pochettino insisted it was important to claim all three points while not playing at their normal level.

He told the club's official website: "I’m pleased with the performance. I thought we played well and deserved to win. 

"It’s true it wasn’t a brilliant performance but it was very solid and when you don’t play at the level you normally play it’s important to be solid and win games.

"At 2-0, we conceded a goal and allowed them to believe they could get a result, we didn’t kill the game off so it was always open."

He added: "Christian’s opening goal was a beauty, he’s in great form.

"I’m pleased for him and very pleased for the whole team because we played in a good way. It was difficult, Southampton were tough, we knew that and it was competitive.”

On Kane's absence, he explained: "You will always miss your main striker and someone like Harry Kane, he’s one of the best strikers in the world but all we can do now is be motivated and try to take the games in the same direction and the same way we took before and try to win. I have full confidence in the squad and football is always about the whole team."

Eriksen, who netted his 10th goal of the season, with his strike against the Saints, added: "We showed our ability on the ball and created enough chances to score more goals (in the first half) and maybe we should have scored more to make it easier in the second half.

“That didn’t happen and that’s why the pressure came to us at the end. 

"The second half was a different game but we showed we’ve matured from last season where we only conceded one goal not two when we were 2-0 up.

“We showed we’re capable of winning 2-1 in an ugly second half and we need to keep doing that."

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