Paulo: "We always have to be ready"

What a week for Paulo Gazzaniga! The goalkeeper completed a hat-trick of Man of the Match displays with his penalty heroics against Watford in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night after a late call into first team action at Brighton last weekend.

Paulo, 26, stepped back into the spotlight for our Premier League clash at the Amex on Saturday with Hugo Lloris and Michel Vorm sidelined by injury.

It was his second appearance for the club following last season’s debut against Palace and again he performed admirably in the Sussex rain as we ran out 2-1 winners.

He followed up with two saves in the shoot-out as we toppled Watford 4-2 on penalties at Stadium MK to progress into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

Voted MOTM on all three appearances by our fans on social media, Paulo told us that he just feels part of this Spurs family.

“This is not my first year here, I have more confidence with the lads, more confidence with the gaffer and all the staff, they have given me great support so with the help of everyone, I feel very comfortable,” he said.

“For the Brighton game, I found out the same morning of the match that I was going to play. Last season was a similar situation (against Palace). It’s what goalkeepers have to be - clear in our mind and always ready. Like I said, that’s because of my team-mates and the staff. I’m very happy.

“Toni (Jiménez, coach) is doing a great job not just with me but all the young lads and of course Hugo (Lloris) and Michel (Vorm) as well. This is a big reward for Toni as well.”

As for the Carabao Cup, Paulo explained his theory was straight forward in the shoot-out after Watford found a last-minute leveller via Etienne Capoue’s deflected shot to make it 2-2. We looked set to win in normal time after Dele Alli and Erik Lamela turned around a 1-0 deficit, but we stood firm from the spot – Heung-Min Son, Erik, Fernando Llorente and Dele all scoring while Paulo kept out Capoue and Domingos Quina.

“All I was thinking about during the shoot-out was ‘try and save it’. My mentality is simply just to try to save it,” he explained.

“The game wasn’t easy. We have to keep working hard and never give up. We’ve been knocked a little bit, it’s been a tough time but we showed character and this is the way forward for us.”

Paulo looks set to hold onto his place at Huddersfield on Saturday after Mauricio Pochettino reported that Hugo and Michel were set to miss out again.