Friday 1 January 2016 16:38, UK
Everton boss Roberto Martinez feels Tottenham should be looked at as genuine Premier League title contenders.
Spurs visit Goodison Park on Sunday as Everton's first opponents of 2016 and Martinez says the year could hardly have started tougher for his side.
Mauricio Pochettino's men arrive on the high of three successive victories, and they have only suffered defeat once since their opening day loss at Manchester United.
Asked whether he believed their opponents this weekend were capable of mounting a serious title challenge, Martinez said: "Why not?
"If anything this season is about consistency and whichever team is able to be consistent in the second half of the season will have a great opportunity to achieve a really, really good ending of the campaign.
"Spurs have a strong squad, a large squad, they're competing in Europe. They've got a strong mentality as a group and I don't see them losing any sort of energy or focus over the next few months.
"If anything, being such a young team, I expect them to grow even stronger. I see them as strong contenders for a really successful finish.
"What Mauricio Pochettino has achieved is a really strong team, very young, very athletic, with a lot of energy and with a talented front four that they can score goals from any situation.
"It's not surprising to me how consistent they've been and how difficult they are to play against. I expect Tottenham to have a stronger second half of the campaign, that's why we'll have to be at our best.
"But, at the same time, we're looking forward to that game because we feel that we've been a bit unfortunate with our results and a good performance against a team as good as Spurs, at Goodison, could get us in a fantastic position approaching the start of the new year."
