Pundit Gary Neville has suggested that he doesn’t think there is anything spectacular happening at Tottenham Hotspur despite their fine form of late.
Tottenham hammered Aston Villa 4-0 on Saturday evening as Son Heung-min fired a superb hat-trick to give Spurs all three points.
Dejan Kulusevski was also on the scoresheet as Tottenham picked up a huge win, withstanding some intense Villa pressure on their way to victory.
That win meant even more to Tottenham given that Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion just hours earlier on Saturday.
Tottenham therefore sit fourth in the Premier League table, ahead of Arsenal by three points – though the Gunners have a game in hand.
Having looked in a desperate position after losing to Burnley in February, Tottenham are now favourites for that last Champions League spot.
That’s quite the turnaround for Tottenham, and whilst there is still a long way to go, fans are starting to dream of Champions League football again.
Gary Neville has now offered his take on the top four race but doesn’t seem all that impressed by Conte’s Tottenham just yet.
Neville suggested on the Gary Neville podcast on Sunday that he doesn’t think Tottenham have been anything spectacular of late.
Instead, Neville thinks Tottenham are just growing by the game because Arsenal and Manchester United keep dropping points.
Neville added that he never trusted Arsenal in this top four race whilst hailing Tottenham’s attacking trident of Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Harry Kane.
“I don’t think they’ve been spectacular in this last couple of months, but they’re almost growing out of the very recent run of Arsenal, and Arsenal starting to drop points, and what Manchester United are doing and thinking… hang on a minute, when you’re starting to play well and the other teams are dropping points, you grow even more. I think that’s what’s happening with Tottenham, I don’t think there’s anything spectacular happening there,” said Neville.
“In fact, a few weeks ago, Conte was in that position where he was saying ‘I need backing in the summer to stay’, if you remember the reports. He got the two players in January, they’re making a big impact. But even after that, there was a point whereby you were saying Arsenal are gonna finish top four, United will, Tottenham… he needs £100million, £150million in the summer, he needs backing to stay.”
“I never trusted Arsenal really, and I said that publicly. The reason behind that was because they needed to prove that they could go through a run where they were favourites for the top four, and those doubts are starting to come to the fore. I think Tottenham are basically getting there because they’ve had a bit of experience in the last three, four, five years of getting into the Champions League. You’re almost in some ways thinking ‘over to you Tottenham, you might as well go and take the Champions League space, why not?’ – we know they’ve got an exceptional front two stroke front three, we know that, but there’s still a lot to play for,” he added.
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