Harry Kane hails Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino as 'one of the best in the world'

Spurs can close the gap with Chelsea to one point on Friday night

Kane believes Spurs can put the pressure on Chelsea this week (Getty)

Harry Kane hailed Mauricio Pochettino as “one of the best managers in the world” as Tottenham prepared to maintain their pressure on Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.

Spurs are still four points behind Chelsea with four games left but they are already on 77 points, and are heading well into the 80s. Even if they do not catch Chelsea and win the league, this will be one of the greatest seasons in their modern history.

With a new stadium coming next to White Hart Lane and most of the Spurs first team secured on new contracts, the future looks very bright regardless of what happens in the next four matches. They beat Arsenal 2-0 on Sunday afternoon, their 16th straight White Hart Lane win, confirming that they will finally finish ahead of their north London rivals for the first time since 1995.

This whole season has confirmed that Spurs are moving in the right direction and Kane said that the club’s development in all aspects gave him heart.

“Every time we drive in as a squad we can see how big the new stadium is getting,” Kane said. “Everything is getting built up and it shows the way the club is going.”

The most important man at the club remains Pochettino, for whom Kane reserved the highest praise. “We have got a fantastic manager who is one of the best in the world in my opinion,” Kane said. “We have got a great squad, a real togetherness and we are just going in the right direction. We have just got to make sure we continue that, that we don’t get carried away. Even this season we don’t get carried away. We have got four games left that we have got to try to win. But it is exciting times.”

Spurs travel to the London Stadium on Friday evening to play West Ham United. If they win they can reduce the gap to Chelsea down to one point, exerting pressure on Antonio Conte’s side, who host Middlesbrough three days later on Monday night.

In last year’s title race Spurs always played after Leicester so Kane was looking forward to playing before Chelsea this weekend. “We knew what it was like last year with Leicester playing before us and even this weekend [on Sunday Spurs played after Chelsea]”, Kane said. “It is difficult. It is good to try to play first and try to put that pressure on, so it will be good to play on Friday night. It is another tough game away from home, but hopefully we can get that win, put that pressure on and wait and see.”

Pochettino has urged his side to go on and win the Premier League title (Getty)

Whether Spurs catch Chelsea or not they can be proud of a season that could be one of the best ever by a team not to win the Premier League. Kane is determined to take the positives from that whatever happens next.

“We have had a better season than last year and again whatever happens this year, next year we have got to be even better,” Kane said. “I think that is important. We are on 77 points which is seven more than what we finished on last year and we have still got four games to go. We have just got to try to finish strong.”

Now they just have to aim as high as they can and hope for a bit of luck. “It would be massive,” Kane said, when asked about the implications of getting into the high 80s. “Obviously we are on 77 so it would be good to get past that 80 mark. We could end up on 89 and still not win the league.

That would obviously be disappointing. We have got four games in front of us and we feel like we can win all four. We feel we can beat anyone.”