Lilywhites vow to hold back on waving white flag to finish line

MAURICIO Pochettino has warned Chelsea that his Tottenham side are ready to capitalise on any more slips from the Premier League leaders.

Tottenham closed the gap on Chelsea to seven points on Saturday as they won 2-0 at Burnley while their London rivals were crashing to a shock 2-1 home defeat against lowly Crystal Palace.

With nine games remaining, Pochettino’s second-placed team suddenly find themselves with a chance to put real pressure on Chelsea for the first time this season.

The title fight could swing further in Tottenham’s favour tomorrow evening as Chelsea face a tough fixture against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, while Tottenham travel to struggling Swansea.

With Chelsea showing signs of vulnerability, Pochettino stressed Spurs must take full advantage if they stumble again.

“It’s now seven points, it’s completely different to 10,” he said.

“But there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s not dependent on us; it’s dependent on if Chelsea fail. But in that moment if they fail we need to do our job.

“If we do our job we can be there until the end of the season and try to fight for the title.”

Despite that rare home defeat against Palace, Chelsea still have the fate of the title in their own hands.

They require 21 points to be certain of lifting the trophy, but Antonio Conte acknowledged it is far too soon planning any celebrations.

“Anything can happen, England,” he said.

“Every game is very tough against a strong team like Manchester City. It’s important to prepare in the right way for this game. Another difficult game.”

Fourth-placed City need the points themselves as they look to cement Champions League qualification via a top-four finish.

Pep Guardiola’s team twice squandered the lead in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Arsenal and are without a win in their last three league games.

City have a five-point lead over fifthplaced Manchester United, who have a game in hand on their local rivals.

Guardiola admitted playing back-toback away games against two such formidable opponents is a major test.

“We play against a team who is stable in what they do,” said Guardiola.

“We don’t have too much time to prepare but we go back to Manchester now and recover and then come back to London.”

Still, City ended their trip to the Emirates Stadium with more satisfaction than Arsenal, who are in sixth place, seven points behind fourth-placed City.

With Arsenal fans once again calling for Arsene Wenger to resign during a prematch protest march, the Gunners boss desperately needed a dominant display from his team. to above start all in Wenger knows the pressure of Arsenal’s struggles and the fans’ anger is taking its toll on his players. “We are in a tough battle four,” said Wenger. Fixtures (8.45pm unless stated): Today: Burnley v Stoke, Leicester v Sunderland, Manchester United v Everton (9pm), Watford v West Brom Tomorrow: Arsenal v West Ham, Chelsea v Manchester City (10pm), Hull v Middlesbrough, Liverpool v Bournemouth (10pm), Southampton v Crystal Palace, Swansea v Tottenham. — for the top