Mauricio Pochettino was asked to assess the progress of Tottenham Hotspur since they lost to Chelsea in the 2015 Capital One Cup final. Spurs will play Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinal on Saturday.

“I think our answer [to losing in 2015, as well as seeing Chelsea end Spurs’ title hopes last season] is fantastic,” he said. “If you analyze where we came from, it’s a fantastic time for Tottenham. Tottenham is not building in an artificial way. It is not about putting in money, money, money and build a fantastic team. Tottenham is genuine, a very natural process, and it is so exciting because it is unique in the world.”

Even if Spurs miss out on the title this season, they have proven themselves capable of winning it in the future.

Spurs have invested more than £170 million on recruits over the past three seasons. Chelsea has invested close to £307 million on players since May 2014, with their outlay since Roman Abramovich landed in London almost 14 summers ago topping £1 billion.