Mauricio Pochettino said it's "difficult to accept" watching his former club Tottenham stuck in a fight against relegation from the Premier League. 

Pochettino, who is now in charge of the United States national team, managed Tottenham for five years and helped them reach the Champions League final in 2018-19. 

However, it is now a very different picture in north London, with Tottenham now 18th in the top-flight and two points adrift of safety with four games of their season remaining. 

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Roberto De Zerbi's side a 59.4% chance of being relegated to the Championship, with West Ham (37.3%), Nottingham Forest (2%), and Leeds United (1.2%) all better fancied in its season simulations. 

Tottenham did, however, win in the Premier League for the first time since December 28th 2025 (also 1-0, v Crystal Palace), after beating Wolves last time out, which ended a 15-game winless run in the competition.

But that did little to lift Pochettino's spirits, who said on The Overlap's Stick to Football podcast: "It's really sad.

"I really love Tottenham, it's going to be a part of my life, an important part of my life as a coach, my personal life too.

"It's really sad because I know how the people are suffering there, inside the club and also the fans. It's difficult to accept."

Pochettino's time at Tottenham coincided with the building of the club's new stadium and training ground, which saw them play their home fixtures at Wembley Stadium.

That investment saw funds for players being limited, and the Argentine said it hindered his team's progression on the pitch and ultimately led to his dismissal in November 2019.

Pochettino named both Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum as two players he had wanted to sign for the club, but the pair instead both signed for Liverpool. 

And Mane and Wijnaldum both added insult to injury for Pochettino as they started the Champions League final eight years ago, a game that Liverpool won 2-0 in Madrid. 

"We were in a situation that was amazing because, I think, the training ground, we finished the training ground, we finished the stadium, we moved to Wembley to play, to Milton Keynes to play many games. At the same time, we were very competitive," Pochettino added. 

"But this idea of how it can affect the environment and the people outside and the people that make the decisions inside.

"It's one title, it's one to win a FA Cup, it's to win a Carabao Cup. It's a shame. We were winning every season because, with all the circumstances that we were fighting, we spent 18 months with not one signing. That was a record in the Premier League.

"We had money to spend but not the type of money to improve, to be close to win or to challenge. We challenged, we challenged to win. But we missed this last step."