Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte believes that it is a good time for the club to be facing Everton on Monday evening.
Conte saw his hopes of winning a trophy in his first season in charge of Tottenham go up in smoke in midweek when Championship outfit Middlesbrough were deserved 1-0 winners in the FA Cup fifth round tie at the Riverside Stadium.
The exit means that Tottenham have no other distractions for the remaining thirteen Premier League matches of the campaign.
Conte decided to look on the positive side of things at his pre-Everton press conference by highlighting the fact that he will now have more time on the training pitch to prepare with his team.
The Italian referenced the fact that some of his previous results have come when he has been able to have ample time to prepare for an upcoming fixture.
He told Football.London: “A good game for us, in the right moment. On Monday. We are having the right time to prepare the game and for sure from now until the rest of the season, the only positive thing is we can have more days to prepared for the game. In the past when we had more time to prepare we had good results.
“We know we’re facing a good team and a new manager. Everton decided to send away Rafa Benitez who in my opinion is a good and important manager. I have great respect for him. Now there’s Frank Lampard, and he’s showing that he can do this job very well. In his last two experiences he did well with Derby and with Chelsea. Monday will be a tough game for both teams.”
SpursWeb Opinion
With only the Premier League run-in to focus on, there can be no more excuses from Conte or his players in the race to try and finish in the top four.
There has to be a significant improvement on show on Monday night, especially for those fans who travelled the long distance to Middlesbrough and witnessed one of the worst displays of the season.