Mauricio Pochettino: 'Lucas Moura deserves a lot of praise'

Mauricio Pochettino has praised the performance of winger Lucas Moura in Tottenham Hotspur's 3-1 win against London rivals Fulham.

The Brazilian marked his second successive start with a goal just before half time to put the Lilywhites on their way at Wembley Stadium.

Fulham dug deep to draw themselves back on level terms early in the second period, but further goals from Kieran Trippier and Harry Kane followed as Spurs made it two wins from two.

Tottenham boss Pochettino was particularly pleased with Lucas's showing, with the ex-Paris Saint-Germain attacker winning four tackles - more than any other home player - despite his advanced position.

"Lucas was from day one with us when we started pre-season which is an advantage compared to the players that arrived late and today I think he was very good, he deserves a lot of praise," he told Sky Sports News. "He scored but more importantly he worked very hard for the team without the ball and that is always important.

"It was a tough game but I think we deserved the victory. We dominated completely and created a lot of chances but we dropped our performance a little bit and became sloppy and they were better in the first 15-20 minutes [of the second half].

"Of course, it's only the beginning of the season but it is so important to win games but we can improve, we conceded too many chances today and against Newcastle. There were different players today and a different system, we are still building our fitness and focus out of possession and we need to be more clinical.

"We are so happy with the players that came back from the World Cup. The mentality and the energy was fantastic. I'm happy with the victory, six points from two games but now we have to keep going and working."

Lucas has had a hand in six goals in his seven starts since joining Tottenham from PSG in January - two of his own and four assists.