Defender delighted with form of title hopefuls

Tottenham defender Kieran Trippier is targetting more success as they look to keep the pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea this weekend.

Spurs welcome Bournemouth to White Hart Lane for a Saturday lunchtime kick-off, having beaten Watford 4-0 to close the gap at the top to four points last weekend.

Chelsea went seven points clear again a few hours later, following their success at Bournemouth, but are due to visit Manchester United on Sunday.

Tottenham’s seventh straight win in all competitions underlined the fact they have a strong supporting cast and can cope without a number of senior players.

Victor Wanyama, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker and Harry Winks were all missing as Mauricio Pochettino’s side romped to another victory and Trippier more than played his part as his impressive 2017 continues, with a cross to the back post that gifted Heung-Min Son his second goal.

Vincent Janssen failed to capitalise on two Trippier crosses in the first half, and he also played Son and substitute Harry Kane through with clever balls.

“As soon as you get the ball and you see two or three players in the box, why wait?” said the 26-year-old Trippier.

“You’ve got a great opportunity to get a goal so I don’t try to do something, try to beat a man, when I can just get the ball in early – because that’s what strikers love.

“I speak to H (Kane) and the other strikers, and as soon as I get the ball they know what’s going to happen. I get the ball in dangerous areas and try to create as many goals as I can.

“Since I was at Manchester City when I was younger I’ve practised [crossing] a lot. That’s one of my main attributes and I do my best to get into those positions where I can feed them into the strikers. I’ve done that since I was a young boy.

“We do it in training, and I do it in my own time with Christian [Eriksen] or a few of the other boys. We do set-pieces and I just work on different areas of my game.

“I don’t get much game time, but I keep trying to work hard on the training field because ‘Walks’ has done well for club and country, so I’ve got a difficult man in front of me.

“But when I get my opportunities I try to take them, try to do my best for myself and my team-mates.

“Do our styles complement each other? You could say that. We bounce off each other and the most important thing is we get on as well. We’ve played for England in the younger ages together. We’ve known each other a long time.

“I knew what it was going to be like before I came here. I knew it was going to be difficult, but all I can do is try, keep doing my best in training and in games, and then it’s up to the manager who plays.”

Dele Alli brokke the deadlock against Watford with another superb strike, beffore Eric Dier smashed home his second goal in a week.

Son netted further goals either side of the break and hit the crossbar, along with Kane late on.

Trippier was asked if he feels he would be challenging for Walker’s England spot if he was at a different club and added: “I don’t know, I can’t really comment on that. I’m a Tottenham player and I’m just delighted to be here.

“We’re going through a great phase at the moment and I just need to keep doing my best in training and on the pitch when called upon. I don’t know [about England], I’m not playing enough. It’s always an ambition to play for my country, but I need to focus on my club career and get as many games as I can before I think ahead about that.

“Every time I get the opportunity to play I love the atmosphere here with the fans. It’s just important I get minutes under my belt. But there’s a really good feel about the club.”