Former Premier League icon Ledley King believes Antonio Conte being a 'winner' will give Spurs the edge over Arsenal and Man United in the race for a top-four finish.
Heading into this latest round of fixtures, the Lilywhites currently occupy a three-point buffer in fourth place over their two main rivals for the fourth spot. They have the chance to set the tone with a win in the early kick-off against Brighton. Three points would put extra pressure on Arsenal and United. They would be five and eight points behind the Italian's side by 2:30 PM as they then would both need to win their respective 3 PM fixtures against Southampton and Norwich City, respectively.
"Yeah, but I started to think about our position, but my team was able to stay in the race. Not only one week ago, two weeks ago. In the right moment, I understood this team was able to stay in this type of race. I said to you with honesty, and I say to you now that the team is ready, ready to fight until the end in this race," Conte said in his pre-match press conference regarding confidence in the top four race. "This race is not easy, it's very important because to finish in the top four would mean a very good result for the club. Yesterday and two days ago we watched how important it is to play the Champions League, how fascinating are these types of games and I'm sure there is a great desire in my players to be protagonists in this competition, but we know very well there are other teams very strong. Arsenal, United, West Ham, Wolverhampton are in this same race with us, but we want to fight until the end, and we will see what happens at the end of the season."
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If Conte were to achieve top four with Spurs this term, that would be an achievement in itself after how Nuno Espirito Santo left this current squad upon his sacking early into the season after the United loss. He's done a job in the short term that has been praised by King, who believes that his winning mentality is the reason for this turnaround pre-Brighton which has helped the white side of north London assert their authority on this everchanging race.
"It would mean a great deal. There's no secret that that's where the club want to be. The talent that we have with the likes of Kane and Son, these are the sort of players that deserve to play in the Champions League every year. Conte's come in and done a fantastic job. He's lifted the spirit of the players and the fans. He's got everyone believing that the club can finish in the top four this season." the former defender said in BT Sport 1's coverage of Tottenham vs Brighton.
He added: "He's a winner, and he wants to win things. Straight away, you can see the transformation in terms of the formation on the pitch. It took a little time for the team to really understand. They needed to get fitter, that was one of the main things." The upturn in the form of the likes of Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski was also praised by the pundits who covered this early kick-off on BT.
