'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

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'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

Signs of improvement are beginning to show under Antonio Conte's management at Tottenham Hotspur, says Football London's Rob Guest.

2021-12-16T09:03:00.000Z

'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

Signs of improvement are beginning to show under Antonio Conte's management at Tottenham Hotspur, says Football London's Rob Guest.

2021-12-16T09:03:00.000Z

'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

Signs of improvement are beginning to show under Antonio Conte's management at Tottenham Hotspur, says Football London's Rob Guest.

2021-12-16T09:03:00.000Z

'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

Signs of improvement are beginning to show under Antonio Conte's management at Tottenham Hotspur, says Football London's Rob Guest.

2021-12-16T09:03:00.000Z

'Conte's Spurs Heading In The Right Direction'

Signs of improvement are beginning to show under Antonio Conte's management at Tottenham Hotspur, says Football London's Rob Guest.

2021-12-16T09:03:00.000Z

- Leicester City host Tottenham Hotspur at King Power Stadium on Thursday (7:30pm kick-off)- Football London reporter Rob Guest has previewed the clash for LCFC Radio- Guest says Antonio Conte's impact has been a positive one since the Italian's appointment- He also comments on the COVID-19 situation at the club and Harry Kane's form

Former Chelsea manager Conte lifted the Premier League title with the west London outfit in 2017 after a hat-trick of Scudettos with Juventus, while he also has experience of managing the Italian national team. He replaced Nuno Espírito Santo at Spurs on 2 December and is yet to suffer a domestic defeat.

The north London side have climbed the standings, too, sitting three points adrift of the top four and one place above Leicester, who they will tackle at King Power Stadium on Thursday evening (7:30pm kick-off). Ahead of that clash, Guest spoke to LCFC Radio's Matchday Live show to preview the game.

"He’s made a big difference already," Guest said during an interview which will be broadcast from 6pm on across LCFC digital channels. "The first thing he did was to change the formation into his favoured one with a three-man defence. It’s 3-4-3 at the moment and it’s certainly benefiting a number of players.

"One of those, perhaps an unlikely one in the eyes of Tottenham fans, is Ben Davies. He’s come into the team as a left-sided centre-back. It’s very much like what Sheffield United were doing when Chris Wilder was manager. They have overlapping and underlapping centre-backs.

"He’s getting forward and having a big impact in the final third. Players such as Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguilón, the wing-backs, they’re having a big impact going forward as well. Things have changed positively. Conte was not going to come into the club and change things straight away.

"It’s always going to take time to see an Antonio Conte Tottenham team, but they’re certainly heading in the right direction. He’s won four from six of his overall matches so far in charge and three from four in the Premier League.

"There’s three clean sheets in that time too, so I think you’ve got to say they’re heading in the right direction. They’re closing in on the Champions League places, whereas a month ago, when Nuno Espírito Santo was there, they were falling behind and probably looking unlikely to challenge for the top four."

Former Leicester loanee Harry Kane, the current England captain and three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner, has only scored one goal in the top flight this season. However, the 28-year-old striker has scored a remarkable 16 goals against the Foxes across his career.

"It’s only the one Premier League goal so far this season, which is rather strange for Harry Kane," Guest added. "Normally, around this time, he’s in double figures. Maybe it’s just a bit of a hangover from the Euros in the summer. He has scored regularly for the team in the Europa Conference League.

"He’s got one in the EFL Cup as well, so he has scored goals, it’s just not been in the Premier League. You were thinking after that goal against Newcastle in the Premier League that he would kick on, but that’s not been the case.

"Since Conte’s come in, he’s not scored in the Premier League, but in the last game against Norwich, he did have a couple of chances and was perhaps unlucky. He’s in the right positions to get the chances, he’s just not taking them at the moment, but they will come for him.

"Hopefully, once he gets the one, he’ll be on a roll. He likes scoring against Leicester, so you wouldn't bet against him scoring on Thursday."

Spurs have been hit by numerous positive cases of COVID-19 over recent weeks with matches against Brighton & Hove Albion and Rennes being called off. Guest says uncertainty is the prevalent feeling around the club at present as they await a return to competitive action.

"There’s a lot of uncertainty at the moment," he continued. "You don’t know who’s playing or where the players who have had it and since come back will be in terms of their fitness levels. That’s going to be rather interesting as well.

"Up until Sunday, the players were at home doing individual work, trying to maintain their fitness levels, so it’s not been the ideal preparation. On Thursday, you could maybe see a difference between Leicester and Spurs in fitness levels."

All times GMT.

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