Boom! Chelsea could lose their Premier League title — and Tottenham could get it

Mauricio Pochettino has reopened one of the most painful chapters in Tottenham Hotspur’s recent history.

Details: The former Tottenham manager believes Chelsea should be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title and that the trophy should instead be retrospectively awarded to Spurs, who finished second that season. Pochettino made his position clear after Chelsea admitted 74 breaches of FA regulations connected to agents, intermediaries and third-party investment during the Roman Abramovich era.

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On July 31, the Football Association confirmed a £10 million fine for Chelsea and imposed a two-window registration ban suspended until June 30, 2027. An independent Regulatory Commission had initially handed the club a suspended six-point deduction, but Chelsea successfully appealed that part of the punishment, with the points sanction replaced by the suspended registration ban. The final FA decision therefore included no points deduction and no action against Chelsea’s previous titles.

Pochettino, who guided Tottenham to second place behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in that campaign, believes the outcome should now be reconsidered. He said in full:

“I’ve said that we should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it. If that was true, and that happened, for sure we deserve to be champions for that year. Because we were the second best.”

The Argentine’s argument is straightforward: if Chelsea have admitted breaking the regulations, he believes the team that finished directly behind them should receive the title. There has been no announcement from the Premier League or the FA suggesting that the 2016-17 championship is officially under review or that the trophy could actually be reassigned.

It is worth noting that Chelsea finished the 2016-17 Premier League season with 93 points, while Pochettino’s Tottenham collected 86 — still the highest Premier League points total in Spurs’ history.

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