Can Spurs Win the Premier League for Mourinho?

At the top of the Premier League nine matches in, the players at Tottenham Hotspur have every reason to be cheerful with their outstanding team performance and fans have started to think the unthinkable: can Spurs win the Premier League this season?

After the north London team’s latest victory – a 2-0 win against Manchester City on Saturday – Manager Jose Mourinho urged caution saying “It feels good, but maybe tomorrow we are second again and honestly that would not be a problem for me, I am just happy with the evolution.  People cannot expect us to come here and after one season we are fighting for the title.  We are not fighting for the title, we are just fighting to win every match. But we are going to lose matches, we are going to draw matches”. 

Mourinho has been in post for only one year, having replaced Mauricio Pochettino, and his confident management at White Hart Lane is a major contrast with his lacklustre performance at Manchester United where he was sacked after a dismal start to the 2018/19 season.  Flashy players like Ryan Essegnon and Dele Alli have been ditched or relegated to the bench in favour of grafters who work hard for the team such as Carlos Vinicius, Sergio Reguilon and Joe Rodon.  Not forgetting two stars of the game – Harry Kane, striker and captain of England (also man of the match this weekend) and Gareth Bale, on loan from Real Madrid, who is still fighting for a regular place on the team sheet.

With 29 matches still to play, there are sure to be bumps on the road but some pundits are already tipping Spurs to win the Premier League and the bookies are taking note of the team’s brilliant start to the season with the odds for Spurs lifting the trophy now at 6/1 with the Betfair Exchange.

But Liverpool, also on 20 points but behind Spurs on goal difference,  remain favourites for the title with odds of 6/4 from Betfair and Smarkets.  The Reds, managed by Jurgen Klopp, won last season’s title by a country mile, and they were runners-up the previous season.  They are a force to be reckoned with and Tottenham players will need to keep performing at their highest level to remain in contention.  

Manchester City also remain ahead of Spurs in the betting, with odds of 11/4 from BetVictor, despite being at only 13th place in the League just now.  City are 8 points adrift but have plenty of time to fight their way back.  With 2 Premier League titles and one second placing in the past three years, there is plenty of experience in the Manchester City team to deliver a major turnaround in their fortunes.

Winning the Premier League would be enormous for Tottenham Hotspur, after a hiatus of 12 years, but Harry Kane echoes Mourinho when he commented on recent performance, saying “We are doing well.  I still think there are parts of our season we can improve on, for sure.  Obviously, we are top of the league now but we know we have a lot of tough games to go”.    It’s not going to be a one-horse race as it was last season but Spurs are playing great football under Mourinho and the team has a realistic chance to win the Premier League next spring.