Having made it three wins in a row on the road, thanks to victories at Fulham, Burnley and Tottenham by an impressive aggregate score of 10-2, Pochettino will be hoping to bring that form home to Stamford Bridge on Sunday when we face the difficult task of hosting Manchester City in the Premier League.

Our victory on Monday knocked Spurs off the top of the table, but that spot has quickly been occupied by our next opponents, who are aiming to secure a fourth-successive title under Pep Guardiola.

That makes Sunday’s game one of the toughest challenges in English – or indeed world – football, but it is clear it is one Pochettino is excited about taking on.

‘Pep is one of the best of the best coaches in the world and it’s always a challenge to play against him and the team that he’s coaching. It’s a fantastic challenge, but I think it’s a pleasure and it’s going to be really nice to have the opportunity to face him in a game like Chelsea versus City.

‘Sunday is going to be really nice to be involved in a game like this in the UK, in the Premier League and in a place like Stamford Bridge, where it is always fantastic to play.’

He is well aware of the difficulties his team will face in this game. However, he does not begrudge Man City their success. Instead he insists it is up to teams like Chelsea to step up to meet the challenge of matching and then clearing the high bar set by the reigning champions, starting by getting the win on Sunday.

‘Of course it’s going to be a challenge. We need to compete and even then we know it is going to be tough, but we are going to go and try to compete our best. What we want is to win the three points, that’s what is important for us.

‘They dominate English football because they deserve to. It’s the reality, we cannot say otherwise. They are on the top and they are the team that you want to beat and challenge because they are showing great quality. All the other teams try to compete with them but they are doing everything really well.

‘For sure it is going to be our objective in the future to be ahead of everyone and try to win the Premier League. Now we need to be clever and smart and try to challenge them and try to be in the place that they are now. We are all fighting to try to be in their place.’

That task of challenging Manchester City’s position at the top of the table has already begun for Pochettino at Chelsea, although it is still early days in the process. He has seen his team taking important steps forward recently, though, including Monday’s 4-1 derby win at Tottenham.

He was particularly pleased with the way his young squad showed they could handle the pressure and emotion of such a big game, with that and the confidence gained sure to benefit us moving forward.

‘That type of game, it’s about the tactics, the form, the approach of the game, how you prepare the game, about many things, and also it’s about controlling the emotions. One thing I need to say that my players managed really well was control of the emotion.

‘A lot of that is down to the players. For the coach it’s always difficult to control the emotion on the pitch from the outside. I’ve learned that it’s really important for the players, how they stay calm in tough moments, to force the other team to make the mistakes and then to win the game.

‘When we conceded the first goal it was a big hit for us, we were in shock a little bit and provided them with too many opportunities to play and create chances. After this moment we started to control the game. We then played very well and we created chances, we forced them into making mistakes and I think we deserved to win.’

For Pochettino, the belief that we can take on anyone in the Premier League will be important to facing Man City as equals at the Bridge this weekend.

‘I think Chelsea never has the feeling of being the underdog. The feeling always is you are Chelsea. When you are Chelsea it is impossible to feel any different, the history is there. We cannot go and say we are the victim of the day on Sunday. We need to go and try to be protagonists with our personality, with our character.

‘We went to Tottenham on Monday and finished the game 4-1 and won the game. That showed we have the character and the talent to compete and to fight with the best clubs in England. Now it is about bringing that confidence that for sure will help us to be more competitive.’