Mauricio Pochettino learned valuable lesson from Chelsea’s painful Battle of the Bridge clash with Tottenham

Few Tottenham fans would have predicted that Mauricio Pochettino would become Chelsea boss after the famous bridge battle.

Eight years on from the 2016 clash, the Argentine still uses a key lesson he learned playing against his current club on what proved to be a heartbreaking night for Spurs.

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Tottenham, managed by Pochettino, traveled to Stamford Bridge in May of the 2015/16 season needing all three points to have any chance of winning a first league title since 1961.

Any other result would hand rivals and underdogs Leicester City a historic and breathtaking first ever league title.

Spurs took a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min before half-time, sending the traveling fans at the Shed End into rapture as the prospect of remaining in the title race loomed closer .

But that euphoria quickly turned to dismay in the second half as Spurs lost control in the London derby.

First, Chelsea halved the deficit through Gary Cahill. Tempers then began to rise as pressure mounted on the away side to maintain their lead.

Unfortunately for Spurs, Eden Hazard then put the final nail in the coffin of Tottenham’s title chances, equalizing in the 83rd minute.

It was a draw, but it might as well have been a defeat as Hazard’s goal ensured Leicester won the title without the Foxes even having to kick a ball.

Nine yellow cards were shown to Spurs in the crushing match – a Premier League record – while a further three were given to Chelsea.

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Midfielder Mousa Dembélé also received a six-match ban for violent conduct for appearing to goug out the eyes of Blues striker Diego Costa.

Both clubs faced three FA charges and were fined for failing to control their players.

Pochettino learned the hard way that ensuring his players kept their cool against their London rivals could have kept them in that famous title race.

Spurs finished third that season, while their rivals Arsenal finished second, to make matters even worse.

When Pochettino first met Spurs in November after taking over at Chelsea last summer, Pochettino recognized the key lesson he had learned after that night in 2016.

“I learned a lot from the Battle of the Bridge,” he said. “I received a lot of criticism after the 2-2 because people told me it was my fault because I don’t teach the player to control his emotions.”

Pochettino handed his former team and Ange Postecoglou the first defeat of the season in a wild 4-1 win on his return.

This time he felt it was her team who kept a cool head, with Tottenham losing two men to red cards.

Dejan Kulusevski’s opener was called off at half-time, with Cristian Romero being sent off and Cole Palmer scoring his penalty to level things up.

In the 55th minute, Destiny Udogie was also given her marching orders, with Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson then scoring a hat-trick to make it 4-1.

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“What I can say is that this type of game is about tactics, form, approach to the game and also controlling emotion,” Pochettino said.

“One thing my players did well was controlling emotion. We didn’t play 10-12 minutes the right way, when we conceded the goal it was a big blow for us and we gave them the opportunity to play.

“Then we started to control the game, force them to make a mistake. We play 120 minutes and I think we deserved to win. Crazy but fair. All the VAR decisions were right.

“Tell me one decision that wasn’t fair and even a few more decisions. Tottenham were lucky. When you watch the game again and try to learn from it, Tottenham were very lucky because they finished with only two less than us.”

Pochettino has the chance to be on the right side of another battle of the bridge this Thursday, as the two teams clash in west London, live and exclusively on talkSPORT.