Spurs not throwing in the towel, says Lloris

But Palace have been transformed by Allardyce, who lost his job as England manager this season after making inappropriate comments in a newspaper sting but returned with a bang after Palace sacked Alan Pardew in December.

“We have to move on, there is nothing we can do about it and we have a massive game on Wednesday”, Dier told the club website. Though a predictable hot take in today’s sports media context, such an argument is mostly wrong-headed for a couple reasons. The most important is to enjoy the present.

However, having seen a commanding 10-point lead eroded to just four, Antonio Conte’s players can not afford a slip-up at home to Southampton. Only the semi-finals, since the change in 2008, but nevertheless a huge day. He lined up alongside Luiz, a player he sees as a role model on the pitch.

Conte reckons players can only be great by playing as part of a team.

Conte made a veiled criticism of Manchester United and Manchester City on Monday, saying spending money does not guarantee success as both face a battle to finish in the top four. Sometimes referees are going to help you, sometimes they make mistakes against you.

Pochettino has yet to win a trophy in almost three seasons with Tottenham.

There were undoubtedly positives for the Lilywhites to take from the game, however, not least including impressive displays both individually and collectively throughout the ninety minutes.

He followed up his error with two superb recovery tackles to hook the ball away from Dele Alli especially, stretching his leg around the side of the midfielder to dispossess him decisively and cleanly to stop him running clear to attack Thibaut Courtois’ goal.

Conte, of course, was correct in his summary, nevertheless the emphatic nature of Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Spurs suggests the spirit within the Blues’ camp will be at an all-time high for the season – less so, perhaps, in north London. “If we see the quality of his games since the beginning of the season, N’Golo Kante brings the same qualities as Oriol for us because he’s very consistent and in every game he gives good performances, with consistency and quality”.

Here is a look at the rest of this week’s Premier League games.

FA Cup purists would moan about it, but no one would think that the defeat suggested any kind of Deeper Troubles at Spurs. “It’s a big disappointment because everyone wanted to be in the final and have a shot at a trophy, but we still have games left in the Premier League and hopefully it will be an exciting end to the season”.

Despite all that, somehow losing to Chelsea is a sign that Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark.