Harry Winks wants Tottenham to keep aiming for Premier League title

Tottenham take on league leaders City this weekend

The youngster wants Tottenham to make a point against City this weekend (Getty)

Harry Winks believes that Tottenham should still aim for the Premier League title this season, even as unlikely as it might now look.

Spurs go to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday 18 points behind Manchester City, with Pep Guardiola’s side having set a new league record of 15 consecutive wins. Mauricio Pochettino has conceded that they are out of the race, but Winks is still holding out hope that something remarkable could happen and Spurs could catch up.

For that to happen Spurs would surely have to beat City on Saturday, but Winks said that his team was motivated to go to the Etihad Stadium and “prove a point”, especially in light of Pep Guardiola describing them as the “Harry Kane team”, which so upset Pochettino.

But Winks was bullish, just as Pochettino and Danny Rose were, after Spurs’ 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday night. He said that he wants to beat City and, as an aspiration, aim to close the gap to them. “There is no point going into a game and not thinking that you’re going to win,” Winks said. “We’re a positive team, we’re one of the top teams in the division and we have to go there and try to prove that. We’re confident on the back of two victories and we’ll go there with full confidence trying to win.”

After beating Stoke and Brighton at home this week, Spurs are now focusing on moving in the right direction again. “We just want to get the three points to help our climb back up the table,” he said. “But we want to climb the table to get as high as we can, and that depends on City dropping points. We want them to drop points because we want to try to win the league.”

City are setting records and showing few signs of taking their foot off the pedal, but Spurs still have to believe in an unlikely collapse. “It’s frustrating seeing the points gap, but there’s still a lot to play for,” Winks said. “Stranger things have happened in the Premier League and you can never say never.”

So there is plenty of motivation for Spurs, not least the spat between their manager and Guardiola earlier in the season. Pochettino accused his counterpart of a lack of respect after he described Tottenham as “the Harry Kane team”. Winks said that the whole Spurs team wanted to go and prove how strong they are.

“We just want to go there and win, that’s the most important thing,” Winks said. “We know what we’re like as a team and how good we are. It’s a good place to go and set our standard and make a point. It’s a game where we will try to do that.”