Spurs building
Vincent: Future is bright for City
VINCENT KOMPANY believes Manchester City could be on the brink of something special.
Pep Guardiola’s side have won just two of their last nine games and scrambled a late draw at Middlesbrough on Sunday.
City are now in a fight just to qualify for the Champions League next season. It is not exactly what their fans expected when the previously allconquering Guardiola breezed in last summer.
But according to captain Kompany, the club are on the road to achieving extraordinary things – next season.
“Finish strongly now and we give ourselves something to look forward to next season because you want to be in four competitions,” he said. “Sometimes exceptional seasons are built on seasons like this.”
Kompany admits the mood is downbeat after City’s recent poor run but says there is no sense of panic in the dressing room.
“The mood’s not great because we’re at that time in the season where we need to win games and it didn’t happen on Sunday,” he said. “Now it’s a case of having to finish the last four games really strongly. There is not one single doubt in our minds that we’ll get the job done.”
Three of City’s remaining games are at home, where they have won just one league game since February 5.
But Kompany said: “It’s not going to be a problem any more. I firmly believe playing at home gives teams a big advantage and we have to look at it that way.”
Kompany has warned his team-mates he will come down hard on anyone who looks like they already winding down for the summer.
“I’d swing a hammer if I had to if I thought there was a lack of motivation or desire,” he said. “That’s something we shouldn’t allow but I really believe it’s not the case.” REPORTS WHEN he pulls up in the car park at White Hart Lane these days Tottenham striker Harry Kane can see the club is going places.
Work continued over the Bank Holiday weekend on the new stadium that has already grown up around the old and which will begin hosting Tottenham home games at the start of the 2018-19 season.
Sunday’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in the final north London derby at the old White Hart Lane continued a run of 16 successive home wins that stretches back to October, with only the visit of Manchester United on May 14 to come.
The atmosphere was as loud as ever – not least because the victory made mathematically certain that for the first time in 22 years Spurs will finish the season above Arsenal – even though one corner of the ground is missing because of the construction work.
Slowly, as the season has gone on, a giant structure has appeared in the gap which dwarfs the current stands and serves as a reminder to the players of just how giant the club’s ambitions are.
“Every time we drive in we can see how big that stand is getting,” said Kane. “Everything is getting built up and it shows the way the club is going. The important thing is to keep building.”
The new stadium will have a capacity of 61,000 – pointedly, just a little bit bigger than the Emirates.
Similarly, Tottenham’s training facility just off the M25 is just that little bit grander and a little bit more state-of-the-art than Arsenal’s, three junctions further around the motorway.
Chairman Daniel Levy is not one for keeping up with the Joneses so much as being a little bit better than them.
From further afield, even bigger clubs will PROJECT POCH: The Spurs boss is building an exciting young Spurs side worthy of the stunning new stadium being built at White Hart Lane going in the right exciting times.”
In 1996-97, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers and Nicky Butt won their second league title with 75 points. The win for Spurs on Sunday took them to a Premier League club record of 77 points.
Last year it was Leicester who were the thorn in their side, this time it is Chelsea, but there is a similar vibe THIBAUT COURTOIS says he does not care if Tottenham keep winning – because the Premier League title is Chelsea’s to lose.
Chelsea need three wins from their final four matches to bring the trophy back to Stamford Bridge after a year away.
And with those games against struggling Middlesbrough, mid-table West Brom and Watford and relegated Sunderland, Courtois, right, has every reason to be confident. Antonio Conte’s side finally rediscovered their direction. It defensive resolve on Sunday, keeping their first clean sheet in 12 league games as they won 3-0 at Everton.
And Courtois said: “We never look at Tottenham. Of course we want them to drop points but the most important thing is to look at ourselves.”
Chelsea have landed three vital psychological blows on Spurs in the last fortnight – beating them 4-2 at Wembley is around Tottenham at the moment as there was at Old Trafford 20 years ago. “We just have to learn from what happened last year and we feel like we are doing that,” said Kane.
“We still have four games left so we are not there yet but it was a good performance on Sunday, especially after watching Chelsea win.”
Now the boot is on the other foot. Tottenham face West Ham on Friday which means that, if they win, for 72 hours they could be just one point behind Chelsea before the Blues meet in the FA Cup semi-final the weekend before last, then keeping up their Premier League charge by defeating both Southampton and Everton. Conte’s side scored 11 goals in those three matches, leaving Mauricio Pochettino’s side out of the cup and four points behind in the title race. Courtois said: “With Southampton at home and Everton away, Tottenham