Tottenham’s Kane (R) and Alli starred for England during the international break over the last eight days. AGENCIES PHOTO
LONDON. Tottenham Hotspur boss Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that even the likes of West Ham and Southampton are still in the running to win the English Premier League.
Spurs are five points adrift of surprise table-toppers Leicester City with seven matches remaining, with third-placed Arsenal a further six points back.
But Pochettino thinks Tottenham should also factor in challenges from Manchester City, West Ham, Manchester United and Southampton because they are all still mathematically in the running.
“At the moment we are competing with different teams – not only Leicester,” he said at his pre-match media conference ahead of today’s game at Liverpool.
“I think Arsenal, City, United, West Ham and Southampton still have the possibility, mathematically. I think seven games is a lot of games and a lot of points.
“You never know what will happen in football and we need to be focused in every game. It’s not only a race between Leicester and Arsenal, a lot of teams are involved.”
It was then put to Pochettino that he would make a very good politician due to the diplomatic answers he was giving on the title race.
“No, I’m not a politician,” he said. “I’m strong and friendly when I need to be, but I am realistic as in football anything can happen.
“We believe we can win the title but other teams have the possibility to fight with us.
“We have seven games and it is important for us to fight until the end of the season and have the possibility of achieving big things.
“One is the possibility of winning the title and another is being in the top four. That is a very important achievement for the club and for us.
Advantage Spurs
“From the beginning of the season, Leicester have been fantastic. We can’t take credit from them.
“I think we’re in a very good position, but we can’t compare ourselves with another team – in this case with Leicester – because we need to fight.”
Dele Alli believes Tottenham’s England stars will be buoyed by their international exploits as they continue to chase Premier League leaders Leicester City.
Second-placed Spurs visit Liverpool and know that a win will lift them to within two points of Leicester ahead of the table-toppers’ clash with Southampton tomorrow.
Alli, Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker all starred for England during the international break, and Alli expects their bond at club level to strengthen on the back of the experience.
“It’s always great to play for your country and to do it with these lads makes it even better. It’s a big credit to Mauricio [Pochettino] and the whole club,” midfielder Alli told Tottenham’s official website.
“This result [Tuesday’s defeat to Netherlands] is a low after what happened in Germany [last weekend’s 3-2 win], which was a great team performance. I thought the team played well again. It’s a learning curve for us. “There are only a few games left until the end of the season and it’s important that we perform well at Tottenham and we take how we played with England back to the club.”
Spurs coach Pochettino is likely to be without Jan Vertonghen (knee) and Erik Lamela (muscle) at Anfield, although Toby Alderweireld is expected to be fit after a stomach problem.
Today’s match will come too soon for Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva, who is still struggling with a thigh injury. However, the Brazilian – who hopes to return to full training shortly – travelled with Jurgen Klopp and those team-mates not on international duty to Tenerife for a warm-weather training camp, and he believes that has boosted the squad ahead of the run-in. Lucas told the club’s official website: “It was brilliant. Something like that has never happened before; it’s great credit to the manager for having the idea to take all the players who were not on international duty and the staff as well.
TODAY’S FIXTURES
Aston Villa vs. Chelsea (SS3/11, 2.45pm)
Arsenal vs. Watford (SS3/11, 5pm)
Bournemouth vs. Man City (SS5, 5pm)
West Ham vs. Crystal Palace (SS7, 5pm)
Liverpool vs. Tottenham (SS3, 7.30pm)
TOMORROW
Leicester vs. Southampton (SS3, 3.30pm)
Man Utd vs. Everton (SS3, 6pm)
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