Jose Mourinho believes it is too early to draw conclusions from the Premier League table as Tottenham lag behind West Ham ahead of their clash this weekend.
The Hammers boast a six-point advantage over Spurs, who have suffered a slump in form since emerging as title contenders earlier in the campaign.
Mourinho's men have lost four of their past five league games and sit eighth heading into the weekend, while high-flying West Ham are fifth.
But Tottenham are not giving up the fight just yet, their coach says.
"The table always gives you what you deserve," Mourinho said. "And I think it's very premature to think about the definition of the table.
"We have to fight and we have to wait until the last match to see what happens, because anything can happen.
"We can finish in the top four, we can finish in the top six or we can finish outside the top six. We must make sure the best possible thing is going to happen."
An alarming late collapse in the reverse fixture hinted at the problems ahead for Spurs, Mourinho acknowledged.
"The first game against West Ham was a little bit a reflection of our season and a reflection of some of our problems," he said.
"We played really, really well in that match, but we didn't win it."
Understandably, opposite number David Moyes had a rather different assessment of that dramatic 3-3 draw.
"That fixture will always be a good memory for me," he said. "To come from 3-0 down with 10 minutes to go against Tottenham takes some doing.
"I can't remember doing that before as a manager, so it was a great achievement for the players.
"Sometimes you need a result like that to get momentum going and help your belief, and I'm sure we took a lot of belief from that one."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham - Aaron Cresswell
Cresswell has provided six Premier League assists this season, including creating the West Ham's second goal against Sheffield United last time out. Only in 2017-18 has he registered more assists in a top-flight campaign (seven).
Tottenham - Son Heung-min
Son's sensational form has slowed in the second half of the season, but he loves facing West Ham. He has been involved in six goals in his past five Premier League games against the Hammers (three goals and three assists), providing an assist in his most recent three in a row. He has more assists against West Ham (four) than any other side in his Premier League career.
KEY OPTA FACTS
- West Ham have lost each of their past three home league games against Tottenham, their longest losing run at home to Spurs in their league history.
- Tottenham were 3-0 up with 10 minutes remaining in the reverse fixture against West Ham this season but ended up drawing 3-3. They have not failed to win both league games in a season against the Hammers since 2013-14 (L2).
- West Ham have won 42 points from their 24 Premier League games this season, their best total at this stage of a top-flight campaign since 1985-86 (48) when they finished in third place. The Hammers have won three more points so far in 2020-21 (42) than they did in the entire 2019-20 season (39).
- Tottenham have lost four of their past five Premier League games (W1), as many as in their previous 28 (W14 D10 L4). In fact, Spurs have lost seven Premier League games this season; only in 2015-16 with Chelsea (nine) has Mourinho lost more in a single league campaign in his managerial career.
- This will be Mourinho's 50th Premier League match in charge of Tottenham (W23 D12 L14). He has averaged 1.65 points per game with Spurs, which is the lowest such ratio at the club since Juande Ramos between 2007 and 2008 (1.17).
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