Tottenham win over Cardiff watched by just 43,268 at Wembley
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was surprised at the number of empty seats for Saturday's clash
ERIC DIER scored Tottenham’s winner in front of a DIRE crowd at Wembley.
A gate of just 43,268 watched this clash — to the surprise of Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino.
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The Argie appeared stunned when, after taking his seat in the dugout before kick-off, he looked up and saw the upper tier of the stadium nearly empty.
Poch said: “Yes, I was a little surprised it was empty. I understand it’s so difficult. We cannot ask for more from our fans. It was a difficult day, the weather was bad.
“It was not easy. But I was surprised the last tier was empty.”
Tottenham released a statement on their website last month saying the game against Cardiff would not be played in front of a full stadium.
Wembley has a limit on the number of events that can be staged with a full capacity, and Spurs had planned to be in their new stadium by now.
Cardiff sold out their 3,000 allocation and boss Neil Warnock said: “I didn’t notice the upper tier as I was only looking at our fans.
“We couldn’t have sold any more tickets, so you can’t blame us for this!”
Dier’s eighth-minute goal fired Spurs up to third, a point behind leaders Manchester City and Liverpool.
Pochettino added: “It wasn’t the best performance but we fully deserved the victory and three points. Then the most important thing is we’re in a very good position in the table.
“We just need to make sure we’re in this position or a better one come the end of the season.
“After the defeat against Barcelona it was so difficult, but I’m happy because of the victory.
“We can play better and we need to play better if we want to be a contender for the top four.”
Danny Rose was replaced by Ben Davies in the 88th minute after feeling his groin. But the left-back is still set to link up with England this week for their Nations Cup clashes with Spain and Croatia.
Poch said: “It was the same after Huddersfield — there was a problem in his groin.
“He felt it again, we hope it’s nothing important.”