Ledley King believes Antonio Conte’s passion is what won Tottenham’s players over as the Italian looks to pull off a last-minute raid on the top four.
Arsenal are up next for Spurs in Thursday’s north London derby and former Spurs defender and coach King has outlined why the squad have “bought into” Conte’s way of working.
“I know for a fact that Conte does everything with passion and he wants to win,” he told Bookmakers.com. “I believe the players are buying into that and since he has come in, he has turned the team around.
“Tottenham were a team where you were not sure where they were going, and they are now a team that are starting to believe that they can finish in the top four.
“Conte has managed to do all that in a short space of time. There are still games to be played and I'm sure they are going to fight for every point they can get between now and the end of the season.”
King expects Tottenham to continue to rely on the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to hit Arsenal on the counter on Thursday, a tactic the 41-year-old recalls being prominent during his time working under Jose Mourinho.
“Tottenham are one of the very best counter-attacking teams in football,” he continued.
“Last season I was part of the coaching staff, I was able to work with the players and it was a big part of the game plan then.
“When you have players of the calibre of Harry Kane - who can hold the ball up, turn and pass so well - and guys like Son or Lucas [Moura] or [Steven] Bergwijn running off the ball, it was a big feature of our play, and it still is there now.
“That’s why, when teams have more of the possession against Tottenham, they always have to be very wary of the threat Spurs hold once possession is lost. The personnel they have just makes them very dangerous on the counter.”
