Mauricio Pochettino says talk is cheap and that actions speak louder than words when it comes to Tottenham’s title chances.

Spurs, who last won the league crown in 1961, are only five points off the top – but their head coach has been loath to discuss the prospects of finishing at the summit.

“In football, in my experience, it’s better to show than to speak,” he said. “In football when you speak too much only you can wait for the worst. It’s important to show more than to speak, and to do something more than you say ‘I will do this’.

“What we’ve shown from the beginning of the season is a signal that we are in a very good way. We’ve arrived in this moment because we’ve worked very hard from the beginning and we cannot do something different in the future - we need to keep the same way.”

Spurs leapfrogged Arsenal to move into third place after their 3-0 victory at Norwich on Tuesday night, but Pochettino said: “It’s not my principal motivation [to finish above them].

“I can feel that this is very important for our supporters, for all the people that love Tottenham, to be above them because the reality is they’re our sport enemy and you can feel that.

“But for me it’s very important to care about our goals or objectives and not think too much about our opponents. We’re the most important people, we need to try to keep our way and it’s not important what Arsenal do, or Manchester City or Leicester or different clubs.”

Leicester top the table and their striker Jamie Vardy is the leading scorer in the Premier League with 18 top-flight goals.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane is joint second with 15, just ahead of Watford’s Odion Ighalo (14), while Manchester City star Sergio Aguero and Leicester’s Riyad Mahrez both have 13.

Pochettino has expressed his admiration for his countryman Aguero in the past, and the 27-year-old has scored eight goals in his last eight games.

However, the Tottenham boss feels the English duo of Kane and Vardy should be viewed as his equals after their own exploits this season.

“Today I think that Vardy and Kane show big quality, or the same qualities as Aguero,” said Pochettino. “It’s true that all are different and come from different circumstances. But today Vardy and Kane are in the same level as Aguero.”

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