Tottenham Hotspur go into the London derby tomorrow lunchtime currently four places below West Ham United in the Premier League table with Jose Mourinho insisting that the current standings do not reflect his side’s true position.
Spurs have fallen to ninth in the table on the back of their recent run of form. The North Londoners are currently six points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, with a game in hand.
Some might look at the game against West Ham as a must-win match if Mourinho’s men are to make up the ground on the top four.
However, the Spurs boss insisted that, since there are only a few points separating a lot of sides and some have had more difficult fixtures than others, the table does not tell the entire story.
When asked what Tottenham can realistically achieve in the Premier League this season, the Portuguese coach told Football.London: “In the same way you lose three matches and you go to a bad position, you win three matches and go to a much better position.
“So like happened last season, let’s go until the end and see what the table gives us. In the end, the table always gives you what you deserve.
“It’s very premature to think about the table. People still have matches in hand. In our case, we played already two matches against Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City. There are other teams that didn’t even play a second game against one of the top teams.
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“We have one match in hand. I know already that because Southampton has to play the semi-finals of the FA Cup in the same week as we should play them, we’re not going to play that match.
“When are we going to play Aston Villa? I don’t know. Maybe April 24, one day before the final. Who knows?
“It’s very complicated. So we have to fight and we have to wait until the last match to see what happens.
“Anything can happen. We can finish top four, top six or outside the top six. We have to make sure the best possible thing is going to happen.”
Tottenham’s clash against the Hammers on Sunday could be dubbed a ‘six-pointer’ as David Moyes’ side also look as though they could challenge for Champions League qualification this season.
Mourinho has an excellent record in London derbies, having won 40 of the 66 he has taken charge of but the 58-year-old played down his record and insisted that it comes down to the quality of teams he has managed.
When asked what the secret to his record is, he said: “Special teams. Special teams win lots of matches. We coaches are as good or as bad as our players make us.
“We depend a lot on them, especially coaches with a lot of experience and long histories, who went through every possible experience.
“We get to a stage of our career where we feel much more stable, much more humble and we realise with all the experience we have that the ones really responsible for our career are the ones that play for us.
“So hopefully at the weekend the guys have a great performance and they can make me look good. Because they’re the ones that make us look good or bad.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Mourinho is right in saying that a couple of wins this season can make a massive difference to a club’s position in the table and their aspirations for the rest of the season.
However, a win for West Ham on Sunday will see them go 9 points above us in the table and that could be a huge psychological boost to David Moyes’ side while serving as a huge blow to our confidence. We need to get a result on Sunday to keep our top-four hopes intact.
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