Mauricio Pochettino learned a valuable lesson from the painful Battle of the Bridge clash in Chelsea against Tottenham

Not many Tottenham fans would have predicted Mauricio Pochettino becoming Chelsea boss after the famous Battle of the Bridge.

However, eight years on from the 2016 clash, the Argentine is still using a key lesson he learned playing against his current club on what turned out to be a heartbreaking night for Spurs.

Tottenham, managed by Pochettino, headed to Stamford Bridge in May of the 2015/16 season needing all three points to have a chance of winning their first league title since 1961.

Any other result would throw up rivals and losers. city ​​of leicester a historic and amazing first league title.

Spurs took a 2-0 lead with goals from Harry Kane and Son Heung-min before half-time, exciting traveling fans in the Shed End as the prospect of staying in the title race grew closer increasingly.

But that euphoria quickly turned to dismay in the second half as Spurs lost control of the London derby.

First, Chelsea halved the deficit by Gary Cahill. Tempers then began to flare as pressure mounted on the visiting team to maintain their lead.

Unfortunately for the Spurs, Danger of Eden He put the final nail in the coffin of Tottenham's title chances, firing in the 83rd minute.

It was a draw, but it could also have been a defeat, as Hazard's goal gave Leicester the title without the Foxes even having to kick a ball.

Spurs received nine yellow cards in that crushing match (a Premier League record), while another three were given to Chelsea.

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Midfielder Mousa Dembélé also received a six-match suspension for violent conduct for appearing to gouge out the eye of Blues striker Diego Costa.

Both clubs faced three charges from the FA and were fined for failing to control their players.

Pochettino learned the hard way that ensuring his players kept their composure against their London rivals may have kept them in that famous title race.

Spurs finished third that season, with rivals Arsenal finishing second to make matters even worse.

When Pochettino met Spurs for the first time in November after taking over at Chelsea last summer, Pochettino acknowledged the key lesson he learned after that night in 2016.

“I learned a lot from the Battle of the Bridge,” he said. “I received a lot of criticism after 2-2 because people told me that it was my fault because I didn't teach the player to control his emotions.”

Pochettino inflicted his former team and Ange Postecoglou's first defeat of the season in a wild 4-1 victory upon his return.

This time, he felt that it was his team that remained calm, with Tottenham losing two men to red cards.

Dejan Kulusevski's first goal was disallowed at half-time. Christian Romero expelled and Cole Palmer offsetting your penalty to level things up.

In the 55th minute, Destiny Udogie was also told to leave, with Chelsea Nicholas Jackson He then scored a hat trick to make it 4-1.

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“What I can say is that this type of game is about tactics, about form, about the approach to the game and also about controlling the emotion,” Pochettino said.

“One thing my players achieved well was controlling their emotions. We played 10-12 minutes not in a good way, when we conceded the goal it was a big blow for us and we gave them the chance to play.

“Then we started to control the game, to force them to make mistakes. We played 120 minutes and I think we deserved to win. Crazy but fair. The whole VAR decision was fair.

“Tell me one decision that wasn't fair and even some other decisions. Tottenham were lucky. When you watch the game again and try to learn from it, Tottenham were very lucky because they finished only two behind us.”

Pochettino has the chance to be on the right side of another Battle of the Bridge this Thursday, when the two sides clash in west London. live and exclusive on talkSPORT.