Mauricio Pochettino said he would "never" cheer on Arsenal after seeing his Tottenham side overtake Manchester City ahead of the champions' clash with Unai Emery's men on Sunday.
Tottenham beat Newcastle 1-0 on Saturday to move up to second, one point ahead of Pep Guardiola's side. But despite moving 10 points clear of their north London rivals, Pochettino still doesn't want them to do him a favour.
Asked whether he'd cheer on Arsenal to cement second place behind Liverpool, Pochettino said: "No! Why? Never! No. I will watch the game and won't be on one side or another. I am going to watch the game and accept whatever the result is.
"I am only going to watch the game and I'll be happy with the result that's they're going to have."
Son Heung-Min's goal on 83 minutes was enough for all three points as Tottenham stretched their run without a Premier League draw to a record 29 matches.
They needed an injury time winner from Fernando Llorente to beat Watford in midweek and Pochettino said Tottenham have the character to push Liverpool all the way in the title race.
"We don't need to be in some position like today to convince ourselves about our capacity, our potential or possibility to win," he said.
"We always believe in ourselves. We are there because we believe in ourselves. Then it's if we are capable to fight until the end, to be close and fight until the end to go close to our opponent to be champions. Today, we are there because we deserve to be there. We will see what happens in the future.
"It's about now praising the squad, the players, to be in the position we are in the Premier League, no-one believed at the beginning of the season that this squad was capable of being there. Because of our belief, how hard we work, our mentality and everything, we are there."
Son has two goals in two matches since returning from the Asia Cup with South Korea and Pochettino added: "'Sonny' is like when you have a battery, you work work work and then the battery is gone. He is like this, he gives you everything and when he's exhausted he says 'I need to change' or needs to rest. He's like this.
"Always on the pitch he's 100 percent in every action without or without the ball. That is the most important thing, it's a very good example for everyone, watching him play. Of course after the first season he understood what we expected of him.
"He's now if you see him, he's one of the players who is always moving on the pitch, trying to get the best position in defensive and offensive situations. Always giving options to team-mates, running forward, dropping and then arriving from the second line. He is a very complete player today and we are so happy with his performance."