Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho seems to have changed his tune when it comes to the battle with West Ham United for a Champions League spot.
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Just two weeks ago Mourinho was branded ‘classless and clueless’ by West Ham fans when he arrogantly predicted Tottenham would replace West Ham in the top four come the end of the season.
“They are doing very well. I believe that in the end of the season their position and our position, they are not going to be the same as where we are now,” Mourinho told Tottenham’s official YouTube channel.
Arrogant Jose branded ‘classless and clueless’ for comments which Spurred Hammers on to victory
The next day West Ham put a nine-point gap between themselves and Spurs with a 2-1 win at the London Stadium.
Declan Rice admitted after the game that Mourinho’s comments only made West Ham more determined to beat Spurs (talkSPORT).
Since then West Ham narrowly lost 2-1 at Man City while Tottenham beat Burnley to cut the gap to six points.
Spurs play their game in hand against Fulham tomorrow night. Should they win that, the north Londoners then play again on Sunday night against Crystal Palace where a third straight win would put them above West Ham on goal difference.
But with the pressure now on Mourinho’s men, the Portuguese has suddenly changed his tune.
‘Top four? Top nothing’ Mourinho changes his tune now the pressure is on Spurs and highlights West Ham defeat
When pressed about Tottenham hauling themselves back into Champions League contention, Mourinho was coy and pointed out the last time they played a difficult opponent – West Ham – they lost.
“Top four? Top nothing,” Mourinho told the press ahead of Tottenham’s game at Craven Cottage (Sky Sports).
“Just try to win tomorrow. We won just one match in the Premier League where we played well, good result, good score.
“(But) it’s just one match. The match before (4-1 victory over Austrian side Wolfsberg) we can all agree the opponent level was not Premier League level.
“West Ham we lost. The result was bad. But I think we all agree that we didn’t play bad at all. But the only two good results we had were these two last ones.
“So top nothing, just try to win one more match. A week with nine points to fight for. Three are in the pocket, we have six to fight for. And that’s the focus.”
Tottenham boss fooling nobody by playing down top four hopes, just look at his ridiculous squad
It is a marked change of attitude from the Spurs boss, who was full of himself and his team before West Ham beat them.
Mourinho is fooling nobody playing down Tottenham’s chances.
They have three of the best forwards in world football and a squad much deeper than many of the sides in the European mix, particularly West Ham.
West Ham know their destiny is very still very much in their own hands, though.
Whatever Spurs do against Fulham and Palace, victory for West Ham over Leeds on Monday night will move the Hammers at least three points clear of their bitter rivals with 11 games to go.
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