Manager Mauricio Pochettino hails Tottenham supporters

While that is partly a result of the current Premier League season lacking an outstanding team – Arsenal’s points tally of 39 after 19 matches is the lowest total of a league leader at this stage of the campaign since 2002/03 – Pochettino deserves huge credit for the role he has played in the remodelling and resurgence of Tottenham.

Spurs, another of Murphy’s former clubs, have looked impressive under Mauricio Pochettino this season and are sitting fourth in the Premier League.

“Maybe every day we have some chat, five minutes, 10 minutes”, he said of his discussions with Levy over transfers, according to The Times.

We are very ambitious.

“Teams are over-motivated to play against us, because they know they need to run, and be overaggressive, because we are strong. The team is playing well”, he told reporters.

“I think we are very quiet, we believe in ourselves and we are confident”.

Pochettino added he was happy to let his players celebrate New Year’s Eve on Thursday night, with the game against Everton coming three days later, but advised them to adhere to Spanish traditions.

The biggest compliment that can be paid to Pochettino is that Tottenham are undoubtedly one of the best coached teams in the Premier League. But I have to say, Tottenham are in a better position and if I was a Tottenham supporter I’d be very, very excited about the coming seasons and this particular season.

Spurs will hope to capitalise on their opponents’ stuttering home form but to do so they will have to stop Toffees striker Romelu Lukaku, who has scored 11 goals in 10 matches.

Pochettino argued recently that his squad weren’t getting the credit they deserve for making light of their relative inexperience to cement their position in the top four.

And the Argentine boss hailed the impact of Alderweireld, who has helped transform the Tottenham defence from the fifth leakiest last season into the tightest this year since his arrival in the summer. It’s not surprising to me how consistent they’ve been and how hard they are to play against.

“For me, it is important how we work as a team, how we try to defend our goal – and you have to have a very good balance”.

“He does a very good performance and shows maturity and experience”.

“The key is to keep behaving in the same way as we did six months ago when we started the league”. But that doesn’t mean we need to bring players in or not.

“It was a good year to build and settle the basis for the future of the club”, Pochettino said.