FIRED-UP RICE

that at the end of the season there would be no comparison between where Spurs would be compared to West Ham and that they would overtake us.

“You read stuff like that and you think, ‘Yeah, that’s going to make me go out and prove you wrong’. “You’re going to want to go out there and put on an even better performance. “All the lads knew that and we wanted to go out there and really beat Spurs.” They did, 2-1, and are nine points ahead of them in ninth.

Speaking to Tottenham’s YouTube channel ahead of the game.

He said: “I believe at the end of the season, their position and our position, they are not going to be the same positions where both teams are now.

“But I praise them for what they are doing. It’s good for a Premier League team with one match per week.

“They are in an advantaged position... one week to prepare, one week to rest. Less injuries, less fatigue.”

DIEGO SIMEONE admits Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea are a very different outfit to the one Atletico Madrid pulled out of the hat on December 14.

The Blues had cruised into the knockout phases under Frank Lampard. Yet, six weeks later, the Chelsea legend lost his job and Simeone (right) has had to reassess the threat Tuchel’s outfit will be to his La Liga table-toppers.

“Chelsea have changed a lot under Tuchel,” he said. “They are a powerful team with great players.”

MATTHEW DUNN

BY

THOMAS TUCHEL is looking for a reaction from Callum Hudson-Odoi – but admitted the inquest he subjected the star to after the Southampton match may have been a mistake.

The England winger was hauled off just 31 minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute at St Mary’s on Saturday. And he was further singled out by Tuchel when his