Mauricio Pochettino happy with Tottenham fighting on two fronts
Wednesday 9 March 2016 19:05, UK
Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino says he will give both the Europa League and the Premier League equal priority between now and the end of the season.
The North London club have a glorious chance of ending their 55-year wait for the English league title as they sit five points behind leaders Leicester with nine games remaining.
But Pochettino admits he will make changes to his team for the Europa League last-16 first leg in Dortmund on Thursday night, with a trip to Villa Park looming on Sunday afternoon.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "Always we try to take the better decision and pick the better players for different games. I think tomorrow (Thursday) we have a very tough game against Borussia Dortmund and I think the Europa League and Premier League are competitions that are our priority now because we have two competitions.
"But in the same way we are in a period that is tough for the players and sometimes you need to refresh the team and sometimes you need to rotate.
"It is difficult to play every game with the same team and for that, from the beginning of the season, we always spoke about the important thing is to have a big squad and that all the players feel they are important and the starting XI is the best team we can pick to try to win the game."
Dortmund trail Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich by five points, and Pochettino said: "There are some similarities between ourselves and Borussia Dortmund. It's exciting for us to play against them.
"We know about Dortmund's goals - they have good players and a great coach. I like the way they play and I think it is a good challenge for us - they are one of the best teams in Europe."
Dele Alli, Danny Rose and Eric Dier were all left behind in London; Alli is suspended, Rose felt cramp in his calf against Arsenal last weekend and Dier is being rested. Jan Vertonghen and Clinton Njie are both out with knee injuries.
