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Eriksen applauding the fans after Spurs' victory over Brighton. John Walton

'It is a very special situation' - Pochettino not giving up hope of Eriksen extension after decisive goal

The star midfielder’s goal against Brighton puts Spurs in control of the top-four race in the Premier League.

TOTTENHAM MANAGER MAURICIO Pochettino has not given up hope of Christian Eriksen extending his contract despite the midfielder having only 14 months left on his deal.

Eriksen joined Spurs from Ajax in 2013 and has been a regular ever since, becoming one of the Premier League’s best playmakers.

He was decisive on Tuesday, scoring a fine late winner as Spurs took charge in the top-four battle with a 1-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.

Spurs and Eriksen have long been in negotiations but do not appear to be getting any closer to an agreement, with some suggesting they could look to offload him at the end of the season to prevent losing him on a free transfer next year.

When asked if he had any updates on the talks, Pochettino told reporters: “I think I was clear a few months ago.

It is a very special situation. Christian is a special person. I think we are all special, different and we need to understand that.

“The timing for him or for the club to be agreeing something are maybe different to another player. I hope and I wish Christian can be with us in the future, but I think Christian and us, we are so open to talking and we will see what happens.

“I think it is so close to the end of the season, [there is] a lot of time to talk after and I think the most important thing now, not only for him, is for all the players to be focused and try to achieve the things we want.

“We have a lot of big things ahead and we need to be focused only to try and recover, train and compete.”

Eriksen has impressed lately and his winner against Brighton capped a strong all-round performance, with Pochettino paying tribute to his technical ability.

“He has an amazing quality,” Pochettino added. “He can shoot from outside of the box and have unbelievable shots with his left and right foot.

Of course, it’s about mentality too, but in the end if you don’t have the quality then you can shoot 10 times without the goalkeeper and for sure you’re not going to score, but with Christian he can shoot and score.”

Brighton were agonisingly close to what could have been a pivotal point in their fight against relegation and Chris Hughton accepted it was painful to slip to such a late loss.

“That’s very much the feeling,” Hughton told reporters when asked if it was a heartbreaking defeat. “We had a little bit of fortune go our away, they hit the post, we defended well.

“The longer it went I thought we would hold out if we had managed the game better at the end. I thought the centre-halves were both excellent.

“It’s a pressurised situation but we have put ourselves in it and we have to deal with it. We have an opportunity now at home against Newcastle [United on Saturday].”

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    Mute Dano Siorain
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    Feb 19th 2023, 7:59 PM

    That was as poor a refs performance that I’ve seen in a long time. Soft cards and sendings off on both sides. Cork had chances apart from that and didn’t take them. Kudos at the end to Hurley to go for goal and a fine save by the dubs keeper.

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    Mute Sean O Callaghan
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    Feb 20th 2023, 12:53 AM

    @Dano Siorain: Ref should be locked up. Brutal performance. Fellas got jail for less

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    Mute Tom O'Gorman
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    Feb 20th 2023, 1:20 PM

    @Dano Siorain: surely Hurley had no other option than go for goal? 2 points adrift with time up? Either way, Dublin should have kicked on after HT being a few points up and a man advantage. Credit to Cork that Dublin couldn’t do that. McCaffrey made a difference immediately and McCarthy’s experience was valuable. Nothing much is won or lost in Feb though …

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    Mute Declan Murphy
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    Feb 19th 2023, 6:42 PM

    Why does John Cleary’s “sending offs” deserve a (sic) while Dessie Farrell’s doesn’t?

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    Mute Thomas O' Donnell
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    Feb 19th 2023, 7:28 PM

    @Declan Murphy: And, on top of that, the author writes: “Dublin boss Dessie Farrell also felt the red cards call (sic) were ‘soft’”. The “sic” in this case is mine. If you’re going to be a fussy author, at least get your own grammar correct!

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    Mute Vincent Kelly
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    Feb 19th 2023, 10:12 PM

    @Thomas O’ Donnell: excellent comment

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    Mute Sean O Callaghan
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    Feb 20th 2023, 12:50 AM

    @Declan Murphy: Pedant

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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Feb 20th 2023, 12:53 AM

    In all my years I’ve never seen two worse red cards than today. God help us if this is where football is heading. The first one is shere comedy

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    Mute Michael Garvey
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    Feb 20th 2023, 12:36 PM

    @Tom Collins: they were both second yellows, not straight reds. Speaking here as a Corkman, but Maguire was an idiot. He was on a yellow and pulled the guys jersey straight in front of the ref. Not the hardest tug but still a jersey pull . Nothing unusual in giving a yellow card for a jersey tug. Gannon I thought was unlucky though he did turn the shoulder a little into the Cork player. I have also seen social media comments about the Cork disallowed goal but looking at that one it seemed the guys foot was just in the square. Marginal but not unfair.

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    Mute Paul Clavin
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    Feb 19th 2023, 11:18 PM

    Jack doesn’t seem to have lost any speed,bring it on

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    Mute Peter Daly
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    Feb 19th 2023, 10:06 PM

    Meanwhile in Tuam, blatant cynical fouling went unpunished by the referee. No consistency in refereeing.

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    Mute Peter Daly
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    Feb 19th 2023, 10:08 PM

    Meanwhile in Tuam, blatant cynical fouling by Tyrone went unpunished. No consistency in refereeing.

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    Mute IrishOwl
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    Feb 19th 2023, 10:38 PM

    @Peter Daly: could u repeat that again ?

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    Mute Sean O Callaghan
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    Feb 20th 2023, 12:53 AM

    @IrishOwl: Please?

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    Mute Tim Quigley
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    Feb 20th 2023, 8:42 PM

    @Peter Daly: You should see what the Armagh boys got away with again yesterday.

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    Mute Barrycelona
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    Feb 20th 2023, 1:02 PM

    If a lot of cards and sendings off improve the quality of the game overall, then referees should persist.It is a physical game but too often you see it being reduced to nasty cynical ‘tackles’ because winning at literally all costs has become far more important than the quality of the game. Besides, these are ‘amateur’ players who can’t afford to be off work for six weeks because they got an elbow in the face or a broken leg.

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    Mute Tom O'Gorman
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    Feb 20th 2023, 1:24 PM

    @Barrycelona: agreed. I thought it was noticeable that the game flowed a bit better when both were reduced to 14. More space of course but nonetheless. The players are so fit now that sometimes it’s not noticeable at all

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