But Pochettino believes his side have put memories of the last campaign to bed, thanks in part to a lengthy pre-season discussion with his squad.
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Spurs, who headed into the game on the back of a 1-1 draw with Liverpool before the global break, took a 41st minute lead at the Bet365 Stadium through Heung- Min Son before the South Korean doubled his side’s advantage after the break. Yes, that does include the Denmark game, however, he already had a solid base even before those points are added in.
Steve Wilson: “Mark Hughes and Stoke did some good work on deadline day by bringing in the Dutch worldwide defender Bruno Martins Indi and Wilfried Bony”.
Spurs have been boosted by the return to fitness of number one goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after he recovered from a hamstring injury that he suffered during the opening day draw at Everton.
South Korea midfielder Son Heung-Min scored twice for Tottenham after being linked heavily with a move away from White Hart Lane in the transfer window.
“Always the strikers are anxious when they don’t score but now he feels happy, we feel happy”.
In fairness to Stoke, who had manager Mark Hughes sent to the stands in the first half after he remonstrated with referee Anthony Taylor, they started well and had a number of chances in the first 15 minutes.
Christian Eriksen twisted and turned on the right to beat Joe Allen and pick out Son with a low cross, with the South Korea global doing the rest by finding the bottom corner with a clever first-time volley.
Kane was on target for the first time this season in Spurs’ 4-0 Premier League win at Stoke on Saturday, thereby ending a run of nine games without a goal which included England’s miserable time at Euro 2016.
Wilfried Bony is set to make his Stoke debut.
Defeat for Stoke left them rooted to the foot of the Premier League table and without a clean sheet in 14 league games.
– Harry Kane became the fourth Tottenham player to score 50 Premier League goals for the club after Teddy Sheringham, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane.
A visit back to Stoke may just be what they need given their most recent trip there ended in such jubilation, but with Monaco to come in the Champions League on Wednesday a confidence-boosting victory is nearly imperative to finally kick Kane and his team-mates into gear.
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Christian Eriksen stabbed the ball across Joe Allen from the right and found Son, who had peeled off to the centre of the box where he guided a sweet first-time finish into the far corner of the net.
