Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville feels that Tottenham Hotspur will push for top four in the Premier League. Spurs, who started the season with Nuno Espirito Santo as manager, sacked the Portuguese man after he struggled to meet the expectations despite a strong start to the season.
Shortly after his exit, the former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte made his way to the London-based club, having previously rejected the chance of signing for them in the summer when he was available. The Italian, who previously won the Premier League title with the Blues in 2016/17, has also won multiple Serie A titles with Juventus and helped Inter Milan found their first league crown in over a decade last season.
With the North London club making such a high-profile appointment, the expectations from them have been sky-high since the beginning. In their game against Liverpool on Sunday, the side played a pivotal part in making the 2-2 draw one of the best games of the season and missed plenty of chances which could have put them ahead in the lead.
After the game, Neville said to Sky Sports that Conte will be demanding more from his players and make them work incredibly hard. He also spoke about his behaviour on the touchline, which clearly suggests he wants to win every game coming his way.
”They have shown a performance today that can tell us they can really be competitive and push for the top four. It will strike a little bit of fear into Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, West Ham, all the others with aspirations to be up there. This Tottenham team is going to be real in the next four to five months,”
Neville said.
Talking about the game between Liverpool and Tottenham, he said:
“Everything I want the Premier League to be. Fast. End-to-end. Tactical as well. It was a game of chicken in some ways, but they both came out on top.”
Tottenham took the lead in the fixture with a goal coming from Harry Kane, who drove it low and wide of Alisson towards the far post. Liverpool struck almost instantly, with Diogo Jota heading home an Andy Robertson cross, before taking the lead in the second half. Son Heung-Min, who was making his 300th professional appearance for the club, made it 2-2 and Spurs managed to take a point from the 2019/20 champions.
Neville was also full of praise for the Liverpool fullbacks Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson, and put them in the same sentence as Brazilian legends Cafu and Roberto Carlos. The duo have been instrumental this season in Liverpool’s attack and are beginning to become even more threatening than they were in the season when they won the title.
Neville, a Premier League-winning right-back himself, said that this could be the finest fullback pairing in the Premier League era. He also added that Alexander-Arnold is in the same mould as Kevin de Bruyne, David Beckham and Steven Gerrard with his attacking contribution.
The right-back has contributed 10 goals in the league, which includes two stunning goals and made two assists in the Champions League as well. Robertson scored his first goal of the season against Spurs before getting sent off, and besides that, he assisted six times across all competitions.
The former Manchester United captain praised both Pep Guardiola and Klopp for making two sides that play football of this calibre, and heaped praises on City’s 4-0 win against Newcastle United. Talking of Chelsea and their woes, he mentioned that Thomas Tuchel will begin to get worried with their side dropping so many points in recent games. Chelsea played out a 0-0 draw against Bruno Lage’s Wolves on Sunday.
