over to you jose
Tottenham keep up the pressure on leaders
MAURICIO POCHETTINO has thrown down the gauntlet to Jose Mourinho.
His Tottenham side narrowed the gap on Chelsea to four points with their 4-0 win over Bournemouth yesterday. Today Manchester United boss Mourinho will attempt to beat his old club for the first time since he was sacked – and give the Premier League title race a nail-biting finish.
“Our part was to get the three points and we did,” said the Spurs manager. Now it is on Chelsea to win at Old Trafford, and it will be very tough for them.
“It would be fantastic if the gap is still four points after tomorrow.”
TOTTENHAM’S hunting down of Chelsea is becoming utterly relentless.
The gap between the two ahead of the leaders’ game at Old Trafford this afternoon is now down to four points.
Antonio Conte’s team can still afford a couple of slips, but no more than that. This Spurs team is ruthless.
The Italian says he expects his North London pursuers to win every game, and on this form he might be right.
It’s now seven consecutive topflight victories for Spurs for the first time in 40 years and 12 successive home wins in a single season for the first time ever.
Tottenham imploded when they tried to turn the pressure screw on Leicester at the tail end of last season. They are not showing the slightest sign that will happen again.
“I think we learned a lot from last season,” said Mauricio Pochettino. “It was very bad period for us at the end.
“We were not only fighting against Leicester, but also against other clubs, the media and the people.
“All of the world wanted to kill Tottenham and we spent a lot of energy fighting it. The players’ position was very difficult.
“Claudio Ranieri said this week that the world was trying to help Leicester and it was good to hear that comment.
“When I said that last season I sounded a little bit crazy. Now nobody favours Tottenham, but nobody is against us. It’s fair play.
“Last season we never seemed to play before Leicester did. If you play first and win it’s a big thing to put pressure on your opponent.
“Now it is on Chelsea to try to win at Old Trafford and it will be very tough game for them.
“It would be fantastic if the gap is still four points after the game. but there are still a lot more games to play. And even four points is still a lot. Chelsea are favourites because they are top.”
Early first-half goals from Mousa Dembele and Heung-Min Son made sure that Bournemouth weren’t going to be able to do Chelsea any favours. After that it became a case of how many.
As it turned out, it was just one more from Harry Kane in the 48th minute and a late fourth from substitute Vincent Janssen. But rarely has 4-0 felt more like six or seven.
Artur Boruc was partly responsible for that, though Spurs did get a little sloppy in front of goal in the latter stages until Janssen scored from close range in the second minute of stoppage time.
They already had a better goal difference that Chelsea and it may prove significant that they made hay against the softest of soft touches.
Boruc had saved well from Dembele’s edge of the box shot in the 14th minute, but there was nothing he could do two minutes later when the Belgian scored from what was already Spurs’ fourth corner of the game.
Christian Eriksen clipped it to the near post, Toby Alderweireld flicked it on and the unmarked Dembele drove in a clinical finish.
The game was effectively over as a contest three minutes later when Heung- Min Son squeezed the ball past Boruc from a tight angle.
Boruc’s diving save stopped Eriksen extending the lead in the 37th minute and the Dane lashed a good chance just over the bar.
Kane fired in No. 3 just after the break when he created a huge amount of space for himself with a terrific turn in the box.
The England striker had three more chances immediately afterwards, but fired straight at the keeper on each occasion.
Boruc’s save count rose steadily with a good one from Eriksen, another from Son, another from Ben Davies, one more from Son.
Bournemouth, who are by no means safe from relegation, were frankly awful.
Hugo Lloris’s only touches were from back passes until Charlie Daniels hit one right at him 15 minutes from the end.
Janssen had only been on for three minutes when he finished off the Cherries after his first shot had been blocked to make two 4-0 home wins in a week.
Howe said afterwards: “We know we need more points than we have, but our destiny is in our own hands.
“The danger is that everyone says we’re safe, but you have to focus the players’ minds that we’re not.”