Mauricio Pochettino tells Tottenham they can only blame themselves if they can't win at Wembley

To help he has changed the club's training pitches to match dimensions of Wembley

Spurs have a torrid record at Wembley (Getty)

Mauricio Pochettino has told his Tottenham team that they only have themselves to blame if they cannot start winning at Wembley.

Spurs play their first ‘home’ Premier League game at Wembley on Sunday, a venue where they struggled last season in the Champions League, Europa League and in the FA Cup. In fact, Spurs’ last competitive game at Wembley was their 4-2 FA Cup semi-final defeat to Wembley, the team they play this weekend.

But two weeks ago Spurs beat Italian champions Juventus 2-0 in a friendly at Wembley, and Pochettino told his players in the clearest possible terms that they must embrace the challenge of playing at the national stadium. If they cannot win there, he said, it is their fault.

“Wembley is not the problem, we are the problem if we don’t win,” Pochettino said. “Wembley is the most important place in the world. And if we are not able to win there it is not because of Wembley. It is because of us.”

Pochetino said that the special status of Wembley meant that it would be absurd if his players were not able to deliver there. “It is the most exciting place to play football,” he beamed. “It is where football is born. For me, in Argentina and Spain, Wembley was a big dream. And now a possibility to play there every two weeks, or maybe every week, or maybe three times in one week. A problem? Come on. I love Wembley, it is not the problem. I am so honest with you.”

After such a poor record there before, Pochettino was delighted that his players beat Champions League finalists Juventus there in early August and hoped that was a turning point for them this season.

“We need to make Wembley our home. It was fantastic to play there against Juventus, the players realised the problem was not Wembley. We realised we were poor when we played there last season. It was difficult for different reasons, but Wembley will be our home, and we need to make it very strong.”

To help Spurs improve their performance this season, Pochettino has created a pitch at Spurs’ training ground the same dimensions as the Wembley pitch, which is bigger than what they were used to do at White Hart Lane. “Now it is not an excuse,” Pochettino said. “We need to perform, we will make Wembley home and give our best, and ensure we are ready. It was a very good test against Juventus, the team is ready.”