Ranieri tried to take the pressure off the Foxes by claiming that the two London clubs are “very favourites” to clinch the title, despite Leicester remaining at the top of the table with just 11 games to go, two points above Tottenham and five ahead of the Gunners.
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Furthermore, Tottenham’s 2-1 home win against Swansea last weekend was their sixth consecutive victory in the Premier League and Spurs have now only lost two of their last 26 in the league, winning 15.
Arsenal looked unlikely to slip to a third loss in eight days in all competitions when Joel Campbell scored in the 15th minute.
One London derby is hard enough, but two in the space of four days will require real armoury. They [Leicester] are on top, they have the pressure too, like all the teams that are chasing. You can achieve something new if you think match-by-match.
Can they do it?
Tottenham’s rise since then has been as surprising as it has been impressive but Pochettino says he has believed in his players from the outset.
A midfielder by trade, Leiva’s qualities are as a destroyer, someone who breaks up play, thwarts attacks and offers a protective shield to his defensive players.
One by one, the Tottenham Hotspur players came across to shake Daniel Levy by the hand. The reason it didn’t ripple the net was because of a giant paw extended by Willy Caballero, Manchester City’s much-maligned Argentine goalkeeper. “Mathematically, what it means, we will only know at the end of the season”.
Making the day even sweeter for Tottenham, their bitter rivals Arsenal were beaten at Manchester United and are now three points behind them ahead of next Saturday’s crucial north London derby.
“We’re all very happy, me and my team-mates, with the work we’re doing and we hope the season ends in the best possible way”, he added after Tottenham’s hard-earned 2-1 home win over Swansea City on Sunday.
“It was a shock playing in midweek but that benefited me”, said Rashford who only featured in that Europa League game because Anthony Martial was injured in the warm-up.
Ranieri’s men welcome West Brom to the King Power Stadium followed by home games against Newcastle, Southampton, West Ham and Swansea City along with games away to Watford, Crystal Palace and Sunderland. “We’ve got a great team around and it literally is a never-say-die attitude”.
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Pochettino’s first league game in charge at Spurs came at Upton Park in August 2014, when Eric Dier scored a last-minute victor to seal a 1-0 victory.
