Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Gary Lineker is among those to have laid into Spurs’ over their big-game record.
Stan Collymore has defended Tottenham Hotspur against those who have criticised their record against their main rivals at the top of the Premier League.
Tottenham suffered a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday, and have now won only four of their last 86 games away to the Gunners, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea – a stat which has since been highlighted by Gary Lineker on Twitter.
But writing in his Mirror column (page 51, Tuesday edition), Collymore – whose interpretation of the above stat appears to be slightly off – insisted that Spurs are punching well above their weight regardless.
“I’m going to coat the coaters who have jumped on the stat which tells us Tottenham have won four times in their last 86 games against their top-six rivals. I mean, what did you expect? For 70 of those games they were rubbish,” said the former England striker.
“Instead, we should be getting behind them because here’s a club that have rebuilt themselves, their stadium, are producing a youthful core for themselves and England, and budget-wise are punching well above their weight.
“They should be battling for fifth or sixth in that respect, rather than top spot.”
Since the start of 2015-16, when Tottenham began to compete again at the top of the Premier League, their overall record against the ‘big six’ – including, this time, Manchester City – is surprisingly good.
Spurs have taken 30 points from those games, the same amount as Manchester United, and less than only Chelsea (34) and Liverpool (37).
Mauricio Pochettino’s side have also beaten Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League this season, and drew against the former at the Bernabeu.
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