Tottenham captain Harry Kane labels Chelsea clash ‘the big one’ as Jose Mourinho prepares to face another former side
HARRY KANE labelled Sunday’s clash with Chelsea ‘the big one’ — as Jose Mourinho prepares to face another of his former sides.
Kane admits Mourinho, the only manager other than Mauricio Pochettino he has played under in his senior Tottenham career, has brought the feel-good factor back.
A return to the top four is within their grasp over the festive period, with fifth-placed Spurs now just three points behind the Blues in the Premier League.
Mourinho collected his fourth league win in five since moving to North London thanks to a last-gasp winner from Jan Vertonghen at Wolves on Sunday.
And now England skipper Kane wants to keep that momentum going with a huge home clash against the Blues on Sunday.
He said: “Absolutely. Next is the big one.
“If we can win that and push into the top four, then we have fixtures over the Christmas period that we feel like we can definitely win. But I don’t want to say anything now and lose at the weekend!
“Even before Chelsea lost 1-0 to Bournemouth on Saturday, we said it’s two important games.
"Wolves were one point ahead of us. These two games were very important for momentum, going into that Christmas period.
“We knew how much it meant at Wolves, with Chelsea losing on Saturday it meant even more.
"At the moment we’re in a good spot — just one loss in five in the Premier League — but we’ve got to try to win next week and push into the top four and go on from there.”
That one loss came against Jose’s former club Manchester United. And Kane is happy to learn from his new manager’s first-class pedigree, with Mourinho also winning three titles in two spells at the Blues.
Kane, 26, added: “You know I got on very well with Poch and I respect him very, very, very much.
“But Mourinho’s got his own style, his own way of doing things. For me, it’s about learning that way.
“Obviously my top-level career has only been with one manager so for me it’s good to experience new things and see how different managers work.
“Mourinho’s one of the highest level managers in our sport. Whenever a new manager comes in, everyone’s ready, wants to work, wants to impress.
LATEST TOTTENHAM NEWS
“But it’s important over this month — a busy period — and in January that we carry it on. It’s not just for an early period.
“We’ve been feeling good. And we’ve scored goals in pretty much every game we’ve played with the new manager in charge so if we can get it right, grind out results like at Wolves throughout the season we’ll be OK.
“For us, it’s about keeping building on our Premier League form. The Champions League has stopped now for a while so over this busy period we want to continue it.”