Tottenham boss Igor Tudor insists he did not mistake Allan Dixon for Arne Slot

Igor Tudor has cleared up the viral moment with Tottenham staff member Allan Dixon at Anfield, but joked he may continue to hug ‘Arne’ pre-match as a good luck charm.

Spurs host relegation rivals Nottingham Forest on Sunday buoyed by a much-needed positive week for the north London club after a spirited 1-1 draw at Liverpool was followed up with a morale-boosting 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

However, rewind to last Sunday at Anfield and Tudor – fresh from four punishing defeats to begin his Tottenham reign – was caught by TV cameras seemingly confusing the club’s player liaison officer Dixon, who is also the brother-in-law of ex-chairman Daniel Levy, for Liverpool boss Arne Slot.

The images went viral on social media and were used as further evidence to lambast Tudor, but Spurs produced a surprisingly gritty display on Merseyside to end their six-game losing streak and backed it up days later with a first home victory in two months.

Ahead of a deserved triumph over Atletico, Tudor again went up to Dixon and put his arm around him before the pair laughed and the Croatian coach revealed how far the clip from Anfield spread.

“This time (against Atletico) we did it on purpose,” Tudor smiled.

“What happened was my son, who is 20 years old, said in Croatia everyone is laughing with you because you did this mistake. I said, ‘what mistake?’ and I said to him, ‘you do know who is the guy?’.

‘No, I don’t know’ so I said, ‘it’s Allan Dixon, I’m spending with him all days together’, so I came out and he’s standing in front of my bench. So what other coach can be there in front of it? It’s my training zone.

“He was there, I came to him to make a joke. If you understand, I came from this side (Dixon’s right), I touched him and go to the other side.

“When he turned I was not surprised, I was laughing. I can imagine in Croatia because maybe they don’t know who is Allan Dixon, but in England?

“I don’t recognise the guy who I spent every day, 10 hours?! So I come out and don’t know he is? It was a little bit ridiculous. Now (Wednesday) we did it on purpose to make a joke, because from now on I call him ‘Arne’! It’s not Allan, it’s Arne!”

Given Tottenham are unbeaten in two matches since Tudor started to approach Dixon pre-match, he was asked if he will continue the trend.

Tudor teased: “We will see.”

Spurs’ precarious position in the Premier League is no laughing matter, though, but Tudor believes they will be lifted by a first win in nine against Atletico and pushed back the game lacked pressure given a 5-2 first-leg defeat.

“It was pressure. Who said it was not pressure? It was pressure because (we) wanted to pass,” Tudor pointed out.

“In this moment it was necessary to have this kind of performance, to give them (players) what they missed until now, this confidence that they have (for) this game.”

Tottenham boss Tudor also admitted he would be happy for Forest to go all the way in the Europa League if it helped his own team’s survival battle.

He added: “Of course I would be happy. This is normal. (If) this takes energy, for sure it helps.”