Pre-season work pays off for Tottenham as star man talks up recent form

Christian Eriksen says that Tottenham Hotspur’s good form is down to the work they put in during the off-season.

Spurs had a mixed start to the campaign but have picked up of late with positive results against the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus.

The stats indicate that the North Londoners have made a habit of improving around this time of the year and Eriksen believes that the hours spent on the training field are a major contributor.

“I don’t know what it is about this time of year but it’s probably all about how we train – we work hard, especially in pre-season and we really pick up this time of year,” the Dane told the club’s official website.

“We started the season well, had a dip and now we’ve really built up again over the last few months.”

In recent seasons, Tottenham have tended to improve after Christmas and put together runs that have propelled them up the table.

After a defeat to Newcastle United in mid-December of 2015, the Lilywhites charged into title contention by losing just two of their next 20 league fixtures, ultimately missing out on the main prize to Leicester City.

And last term, following a 1-0 reverse at Manchester United on December 11, Mauricio Pochettino’s men then won 19 of their remaining 23 top-flight matches to finish second in the table with 86 points.

That tally would have been enough to claim the crown in nine of the previous 25 Premier League campaigns.

There is no reason to think that Spurs cannot put together a similar run of results this time around, particularly given that their next four fixtures see them go up against teams placed 10th or lower in the table.

Eriksen and his team-mates will hope to carry momentum and confidence into April, when they go head-to-head with both Chelsea and Manchester City in games that could decide their top-four fate.