Mauricio Pochettino 'Never Doubted' Spurs League Form After 5-1 Thrashing of Stoke

Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that he never once doubted that Tottenham wouldn't bounce back in style from their four game winless run in the Premier League.

Spurs turned it on as they trounced Stoke City 5-1 at Wembley on Saturday afternoon and lifted the gloom after a number of poor results had left them outside of the top four.

Speaking to the London Evening Standard after the thrashing of the Potters, Pochettino admitted that his confidence hadn't been shaken by that mini run of form and backed his players to head into the festive period with their tails up.

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He said: "There was never any doubt about the team. I am confident, I trust in the team and our job and, like I told you, there are some not so good moments in every team that happen.

"I think after Apoel and today we need to stay optimistic and try to keep our level for the next few games."

A Ryan Shawcross own goal set the hosts on their way to a resounding win, while Son Heung-Min, a Harry Kane brace and Christian Eriksen also got on the scoresheet for Spurs.

With his two-goal salvo against Stoke, Kane moved onto 50 goals for club and country for the calendar year, and is now just three shy of equalling Alan Shearer's Premier League record of 36 goals notched in a single year.

Potters keeper Jack Butland thwarted the 23-year-old a further four times as a rampant Lilywhites side could have chalked up a cricket score, and Pochettino went on to laud the ferocious nature of Kane's goalscoring appetite, before remarking that the England hotshot must be the best striker in world football right now.

He said: "For me he is one of the best, maybe the best. There is no doubt for me, if today [whether] he scored or not, for me I am not going to change my mind, what I think about him - for me he is one of the best.

"[It is a] fantastic record because he scored a lot of goals this year."