A look at how the White Hart Lane club have moved forward again this season despite improvement from most rival teams

Mauricio Pochettino is pleased with Tottenham Hotspur’s position in the Premier League table heading into the international break and a glance at last season’s table at this stage just highlights the progress made.

The north Londoners were also second on this date (March 24) in 2016, but Sunday’s 2-1 win against Southampton at White Hart Lane has them in great shape ahead of a massive April.

While Chelsea appear out of reach, Tottenham have stepped up enough this season to combat improvements from the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United to hold an encouraging advantage over the trio of northern clubs.

Spurs’ record at White Hart Lane has helped as they haven’t tasted defeat in N17 now since a costly 2-1 loss to Southampton last May.

Pochettino said: “Our home form is fantastic and I think the team fully deserves all the praise because we have played very well throughout.

“Sunday was a tough game and in the second half maybe we suffered a little bit, but in the end we fully deserved it, so I’m very pleased.

“The performance was good, but it is difficult to keep your level in every game, so we have to be pleased to keep our position in the table.

“It was 2-0 in the first half and we controlled the game and it is true we made a mistake for the goal we conceded, but this always happens in football. What is important in the end is the victory and it keeps us in a very good position.”

Tottenham have now won their last 10 league games at White Hart Lane and overcome some tricky challenges against the likes of Chelsea, West Ham, West Brom and Everton.

Although last season Spurs had a much better chance of catching Leicester and winning the title after 28 fixtures, they have improved their points return this time around, which is an impressive feat.

Tottenham have obtained five more points, won more games, scored more goals, conceded less and also lost one fewer match compared to last year.

Yet again Pochettino has improved Spurs, but of course there is still plenty of room for more.

In recent home wins this month against Everton and Southampton, Spurs were in cruise control before taking their foot off the gas and being forced to hold on.

Christen Eriksen and Dele Alli found the net on Sunday after 33 minutes to give Tottenham a 2-0 lead, but James Ward-Prowse pulled one back early in the second half to make it tougher than it needed to be.

It is a small negative compared to the positives currently surrounding Pochettino’s team, yet something else to improve upon.

He said: “We don’t need to find a very small, small, small negative thing to speak about the team.

“I felt we showed a lot of positive things, but it is our nature to try and find a negative, yet I agree we need to improve and try to score the third or fourth and finish the game.”