Ange Postecoglou says Daniel Levy deserves the credit for Tottenham's start to the season but revealed he does not have as close a relationship with the chairman as Mauricio Pochettino, who returns to Spurs with Chelsea on Monday evening.
Postecoglou's unbeaten Spurs can return to the top of the table and move 17 points clear of the Blues with a win in north London.
Their remarkable start to the season has eased the pressure on Levy, who faced intense heat from Spurs supporters last season but ignored the clamour to rehire Pochettino in the summer.
The chairman instead opted for a relative unknown in Postecoglou, while Pochettino joined Chelsea, and the Australian says Levy deserves his share of the dues for backing him to revive the club.
As a boss, you need your owner to have belief in you. I'm hopefully gaining more of Daniel's trust
"It's not an unusual position [the owner being under pressure]," Postecoglou told Standard Sport. "When I walked in at Celtic, the board weren't too popular at the start, either. But they backed me, they believed in me.
"And when [owners] do that, of course they deserve the credit because they're the ones that have made the decisions and backed me to bring the club to where it is currently. So of course they should get the credit."
During his five-and-a-half years in charge of Spurs, Pochettino spoke to Levy almost every day and they even bonded during a holiday to the coach's native Argentina, which included white-water rafting together.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, he described his relationship with Levy as "friendly" and said the Spurs chief was one of the most important figures in his career.
Postecoglou suggested he is not as close with Levy but says he does not need to see the chairman regularly to gain the "trust and belief" he needs to make Spurs successful. Told about Pochettino's relationship with Levy and asked how his compared, Postecoglou said: "Nothing against Daniel but I'm not going white-water rafting!
"My relationship with Daniel is pretty consistent with the relationships with all the people I've worked with at other clubs that have major influence as decision-makers.
"I need them to believe in me. That's the basic core of it and you can get to that space in many different ways. It doesn't mean I have to socialise with them, it doesn't mean I have to talk to them every day. It's about gaining their trust and belief.
"Because without that, I can't do what I want to do. I can't make decisions around staff, bringing players in, all these things unless the people above me have total faith and trust.
"I've treated those relationships all the same. The number one task I have when I go into a club is to get people to believe in me, trust me. Whether that's the person working on the floor [in reception] or the person who runs the club. It's the same.
"I've got to get all of them to believe in me because I can't do what I want to do by myself. It just doesn't work that way.
"I've had a really healthy working relationship with Daniel and hopefully I'm gaining more of his trust to continue to do what I want to do."
Chelsea are desperate for a win to ignite their season, but Pochettino has rejected the idea that he is seeking revenge following the nature of his departure from Spurs.
"I want to win," said Pochettino. "I want to beat them. It's going to be important because we need to win, Chelsea need to win because we need the points. But not because it's special because it's against Tottenham."
Spurs will give late fitness tests to left-backs Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies, while Brennan Johnson could make his second start for the club in the front three.
Pochettino must decide if Reece James is fit to start again after coming through an hour against Blackburn midweek, while Mykhailo Mudryk is expected to return to the squad and Armando Broja may be fit enough for the bench.
