Spurs striker Harry Kane has admitted that Antonio Conte has already built one of the 'best' attacks in the Premier League amid a topsy turvy top-four race with Arsenal and Manchester United.
Kane, 28, played a significant role as the Lilywhites made real progression in the top four race after both Man United and Arsenal had dropped points earlier in the day prior to the 4-0 Aston Villa win on the Saturday Night Football. The Gunners continued their recent slump with a shock 2-1 loss at home to a Brighton side who were badly out of form prior to kick-off at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Coupled with this, Ralf Rangnick's poor Man United outfit also aided Tottenham's renewed top-four bid as the Red Devils handed Frank Lampard and Everton a fresh lifeline. This has all culminated with Conte's men opening a three-point gap to their north London rivals having played one more game than Mikel Arteta's side. More importantly, though, the six-point advantage over United, having played the same number of games, gives Spurs a clear advantage as we approach the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
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What could be the pivotal factor in who does achieve top four at the end of the season could be which of the competitors nets the most goals and if Spurs' last two games are anything to go by, their nine goals scored against Newcastle and Aston Villa respectively has them as the 'best' equipped according to star striker Kane. "It’s probably the best we’ve felt for a while, we’re one of the best teams in 2022. We’ve been working hard with the manager on the training pitch to try and create more chances and hopefully we can keep going and do the same today," he said in his interview post-match with Sky Sports.
Conte followed this claim up with his own 'important' message he delivered post-match in the top four race. "Very, very important. A strong team, a top team needs to have great character, great personality, to be strong mentally because during the game you know you can have a period that you have to suffer because your opponent is pushing you a lot," the Italian said in his post-match press conference.
"Today the first half was difficult, but we knew this because when you play against Aston Villa away in this stadium, this fantastic atmosphere, I don't think there is one team that comes here and wins easy. For this reason, I appreciate the effort of my players. The composure and desire to stay strong and then in the second half I think we won the game in an important way. For sure we have to be better when there is type of pressure and we have to continue to have the personality to try and play because every time we played we created a chance to score. If you are an opponent that puts a pressure and you take the risk to play then you have space to attack. I think we have to continue to do this and improve. In the second half we were much better, also because the intensity of Aston Villa dropped and the pressure was less than the first half.
"It was a great win for us, it wasn't easy. But a great win, especially when you play a game after the games of your rivals in the race for the Champions League and they lost. Wolverhampton, Manchester United and Arsenal. We had to show in this moment that you start to feel the blood of your opponent and it is important to not fail. For this reason we are working a lot on the mentality. The players are giving me great satisfaction in many aspects."
Next up for Conte's men are Arsenal conquerors from the weekend in the form of Graham Potter's side. Arsenal meanwhile face a wounded Southampton animal after their 6-0 Chelsea defeat. United host Norwich in what should be an easy three points for Rangnick and co.
