THE computer says no when it comes to Tottenham’s title chances – but Ange Postecoglou vowed: AI still believe we are in the hunt.
Number-crunchers Opta used a supercomputer this week to calculate the prospects of the current top five teams being named Premier League champions by the end of the campaign.
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Manchester City came out on top by some way, but Spurs were given “less than a 0.1 per cent chance” of finishing top of the pile.
When that outcome was put to Spurs chief Postecoglou, he joked: “A supercomputer! Does it go to a phone booth and change into something else from just a normal computer?
“What did it say, 0.1 per cent? So we got a chance then. Let’s go for it. No problems, no issues with that, we’ve got a chance!”
Opta’s AI brainbox may not fancy Spurs, but they are only seven points behind leaders Liverpool and have a winnable run of fixtures.
Saturday’s hosting of Brighton is the second of a run of four Saturday home games at 3pm, followed by Wolves and Crystal Palace.
Come the end of that run it is plausible the gap to the top could be even smaller.
Particularly now Postecolgou can pick his strongest XI for the first time this season after captain Son Heung-min and midfielder Yves Bissouma returned from international duty.
In fact, the only first-team players currently out injured are Ryan Sessegnon and Manor Solomon, who had a further procedure on his knee on Monday and is out for another two-three weeks.
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Asked how he feels about attacking the upcoming fixtures with his best team, Postecoglou replied: “I’m definitely excited.
“It gives us a chance to put some things into place with our training, with the way we want to play our football to see if we can go up another level or two or three between now and the end of the year.
“We’ve got 15 games to go and we’ve got probably the healthiest list since the start of the season and that gives us that platform but you’ve still got to go out and perform.”
Everton and Manchester City have successfully targeted goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario from corners of late – and Brighton can be expected to do the same.
Postecoglou is frustrated by a shift in the previously unwritten rule that pressure on goalkeepers by opposing players would be given as a foul.
He revealed Spurs have written to refereeing body the PGMOL for clarity.
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Former Celtic boss Postecoglou added: “We have sent some stuff to get some clarification.
“There’s definitely been a shift as I see it where we’ve had two goals, maybe three, (against us) that maybe in the past would have been fouls on the goalkeeper.
“And it’s not just in our games, I’ve seen it in other games too.”
