- Football London’s Alasdair Gold provides an insight into Tottenham Hotspur’s 2018/19 campaign
- The Spurs correspondent believes they remain in the race for the Premier League title
- Gold emphasised the importance of Heung-Min Son’s return to action following Harry Kane’s injury
Late victories over Fulham, Watford and Newcastle United have only been marred by a Carabao Cup Semi-Final defeat to Chelsea and a 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the Emirates FA Cup.
The trio of triumphs has seen Spurs maintain their pursuit of a maiden Premier League title, with Manchester City leading the way on 62 points heading into the weekend’s action.
Tottenham sit five points behind Pep Guardiola’s outfit, while they are seven points ahead of fourth-placed Chelsea.
“They’re just about clinging on in the title race, they really are,” Gold told LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live show. “They’re a strange team. Every time you seem to think they’re down, they just about hold on.
“The last three games have pretty much summed that up. They’ve had three late wins, with all three of the goals coming after the 82nd minute or so. There’s just an inkling that they’re still in the title race.
“Pochettino’s brought this mentality to Tottenham where the players never really give up. I think that’s what they’re going to take into Sunday’s game. Leicester are tough opposition and we know what happened last year at Wembley.
“It finished 5-4, even though there wasn’t really too much to play for. Hopefully, we’ll have another entertaining game.”
With Harry Kane likely be out of action until March with an ankle complaint and Dele Alli also sidelined with a hamstring injury, Gold believes Heung-Min Son will continue to play a vital role for Pochettino’s side.
“Son’s come back from the Asian Cup and he’s revelled in it,” he continued. “When he came back from the Asian Games earlier in the season, he was tired, and he didn’t really contribute too much for a good month or so.
“This time, he’s very much come back in as almost like a saviour. I think he knows that with [Harry] Kane and [Dele] Alli out, it’s really on him as he’s the attacking threat up front. He’s been terrific and really seems to thrive on the pressure.”
Gold says several other players have stepped up to the challenge during skipper Kane’s time out, with striker Fernando Llorente scoring the winning goal after setting up Son’s leveller against Watford on 30 January.
Gold added: “There are other players that people didn’t really expect to come into form, like Fernando Llorente. He’s scored one and assisted one, he’s stepped up as well. Many thought he might have even been leaving last month, so they’ve done their bit.
“Then you’ve got the likes of Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela and Christian Eriksen behind them, so there’s still a lot of quality in there. Kane and Alli are big misses, but Spurs, despite what everyone thinks, have actually got a squad that is handling it.”