We don’t need to hide anything. But we played with a good personality to create the chances to score a goal, but we could not take them. We missed that rotation, to keep the level and the energy up, because some players were out.
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Spurs are also six points better off than at the same stage past year, but the competition is fiercer this time around, with Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City also in the hunt.
Jose Mourinho looks to finally have the side playing to his tune, even if it it has a different melody to the one usually heard from a side managed by the Portuguese.
Now that Spurs have matured they can start to consider aiming for the very top of the table.
“We see some videos and all these tactical things – but that’s our secret”. That is important for us. With so much of the season left to go, it’s not out of the question. “Anything can happen in football”.
“We have nothing to hide”, said Pochettino, who expects Lamela back before the end of the season but refused to put a timeframe on his return. This was precisely the improvement he was hoping for from his team. “This is a squad that should be competing better”. “Against Arsenal, we weren’t a team; today we were”.
“The minute they lost it they got behind the ball, it was very hard game for Costa and Harry Kane tonight”.
“We are very pleased”.
Whereas Spurs had gone with four at the back in November’s 2-1 loss at the Bridge, here they effectively matched Chelsea’s 3-4-3 shape, which made for an attritional first half at White Hart Lane.
Spurs can go unnoticed no longer.
Last season, one of the main factors in Tottenham’s failure to pip Leicester at the final hurdle for the Premier League title was the fact that they had drawn too many games.
The Blues were seeking to equal the Premier League’s record of 14 consecutive wins but Alli’s double either side of half-time finally brought the leaders to a halt.
“It is unusual for us to concede these goals because we are defending well, and they are in a crucial moment”, Conte said. It’s a good sign we are progressing well. Though he earned a yellow card for the celebration of his first goal, his passion sets him aside from the rest – Alli is a player who truly wants to make a difference to a game, and frequently does.
Even at that relatively early stage, there seemed no way back into the game against a resurgent Spurs.
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Despite what the above clip suggests, the Premier League is simply the best league in the world.
