Wednesday 23 December 2015 15:44, UK
Mauricio Pochettino believes his young Tottenham team is not getting the credit it deserves and has not ruled out a title bid.
Spurs have been a consistent force this season - hampered only by a number of draws from winning positions - and finally moved into the top four with the 2-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday following Manchester United's home defeat to Norwich.
That win on the south coast was a fine response to their 2-1 defeat to Newcastle two weeks ago - which ended a 14-match unbeaten league run - and left Spurs three points behind third-placed Manchester City.
"Sometimes I think people don't realise the effort that we make and how hard our players work because we are the youngest squad in the Premier League," said Pochettino.
"Sometimes they deserve more praise for the position we are in - and not only because we are fourth today but the way we try to play. Maybe the players, the team, deserve more praise than we've had so far."
Spurs remain nine points behind league leaders Leicester City ahead of their Boxing Day clash with Norwich City, but the Argentine has set no limits on his side's ambitions for the season, focusing solely on winning the next game.
"In football all is possible," he said. "The most important thing is to believe that you can win every game. I think we're very young, we have a strong squad, we believe in ourselves and we'll keep working hard and try to win every game.
"We're in a very tough league - for me the Premier League is the most difficult league in the world - so it's always important to be focused in every game and every single training session, but in football all can happen if you believe.
"The last 10 games are very important. It's about how you arrive at the last 10 games to attack different objectives or goals, or achieve important things."
Meanwhile, Pochettino expects forward Clinton Njie to be out for two to three months after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.
The Cameroon forward initially struggled with a hamstring problem when he arrived from Lyon in the summer and the 22-year-old now faces an extended spell on the sidelines.
"I don't know but we will expect maybe two months or two and a half," Pochettino said.
"You never know because every day it's about how the knee responds but maybe two months or a little bit more."
