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Football London
Football London
Sport
Rob Guest

Antonio Conte's incredible Tottenham transformation and the ten words that will concern rivals

It is now just over six weeks ago since Antonio Conte questioned his own future at Tottenham following their dismal 1-0 defeat away at Burnley. Victorious four days earlier with a stunning 3-2 triumph against Man City, Spurs crashed back down to earth with an almighty bang at Turf Moor.

A defeat that left many believing that chairman Daniel Levy would soon be on the search for a new manager, the Lilywhites have dramatically transformed their fortunes since that awful night in Lancashire. While there have been a few bumps in the road along the way since then, notably the FA Cup exit at Championship side Middlesbrough and their 3-2 defeat against Manchester United, Tottenham have won six of their last eight games in all competitions.

Their latest victory came on Saturday evening away at Aston Villa as they left the MIdlands with all three points following a 4-0 drubbing. However, if it wasn't for the heroics of Hugo Lloris in the first half then the scoreline could have looked rather different.

READ MORE: Romero's stoppage-time celebration, Doherty scare - 5 things spotted in Aston Villa vs Tottenham

Leading 1-0 after three minutes thanks to Son Heung-min's well-taken opener, Spurs' goalkeeper had to make seven saves in the opening 45 minutes with Villa putting the visitors under relentless pressure. The Frenchman's saves from Jacob Ramsey and John McGinn were top class, with the captain also doing well just before the break as Philippe Coutinho looked to catch him out at his near post with a free-kick.

Aston Villa really should have been ahead at the break rather than behind, with Lloris' brilliance enabling Tottenham to take a slender lead into the second period. Doubling their lead five minutes later as Dejan Kulusevski arrowed in a low effort, as was the case against Newcastle United last Sunday, the goals started to flow as Son added a further two to complete his hat-trick as Tottenham ran riot.

Having seen Manchester United and Arsenal lose earlier in the day against Everton and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively, it was a pivotal win for the team in the top-four race as they extended their lead over the Gunners to three points. Things may have panned out differently had Aston Villa not wasted a number of excellent chances, however.

"I like to see my team to play in every moment," said Conte in his post-match press conference when asked if he was angry at half-time. "In the first half we suffered a bit of pressure, the intensity of the pressure. We are working to try to face this type of situation and overcome it in the best possible way. Today we did this, a great improvement. The game wasn't easy, but we made the game easy."

The final ten words of Conte's answer are extremely telling as they highlight the major transformation at the club over the past couple of months and they should also serve as a warning to their rivals. The game certainly wasn't easy for Tottenham, but they did make it easy as they wowed in the second half to deliver a hammer blow to Villa.

A fixture they probably would have lost not so long ago once the pressure finally told on them, Tottenham are now a different beast under Conte and that can be seen from their seven wins in their last nine Premier League matches. The confidence is there at present and the goals are flowing as a result, with 12 in their last three fixtures.

Tottenham are making games easy for themselves at present and that only bodes well for Conte and his team as they look to secure a place in next season's Champions League. Embarrassing the Claret and Blue on Saturday at Villa Park as they put Steven Gerrard's side to the sword, it now feels like a lifetime ago when they lost to another team in claret and blue on that dire evening in Lancashire.

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