Monday 2 January 2017 07:05, UK
Christian Eriksen insists Tottenham are as strong as they were last season, and that confidence has never wavered at the club.
On Wednesday night they host Chelsea, who ended their title bid last season with an infamous 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge, and still sit off the Blues at the top of the Premier League this time around.
But the Denmark international told Sky Sports that although confidence seems to have dropped from the outside looking in, the belief inside the camp is still as high as ever.
"I don't think [the confidence] has ever been gone really. I think it has been how people looked at it from the outside, saying: 'Oh they don't look as good as last season,' but nothing has really changed.
"It's still the same players, the same style of play, and some of the games we have maybe been in even more control than last season.
"It's just that last season was new, and now people know. I think our biggest strength is to control the game, and finish the game off, not letting the other team in."
The majority of Tottenham's main men have committed their futures to the club by signing long-term deals, something Eriksen says is indicative of the high morale at Spurs.
"Everybody is happy to be here, otherwise it wouldn't be the whole squad signing new deals, which says a lot about the whole club, the manager, your team mates, that everybody wants to be here and be a part of this. So hopefully there will be some very good years.
"I think we're in a very good position, first of all as to how we want to play. Any team wants to be up there, but we're not too far off anything. For us, we must keep on fighting until the end."
Eriksen, who has regained his form in the winter after an indifferent autumn, added that Spurs' position in the Premier League table this season is due to other teams around them improving.
For Spurs to challenge again, the 24-year-old says his side will need to be as sharp as ever between now and May.
"This season we knew it would be very different to last season, we knew it was going to be very, very hard, whereas last season a lot of the top teams didn't really win their games. We ended up very high.
"But you can see this season it is already very hard, everybody is fighting for is so it will be a very, very competitive top six and we really need to be sharp to be up there."
