Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte has suggested the club must match his ambition as he looks to improve Spurs.
Conte only signed a contract for a year and a half after taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo in November.
The former Inter coach believes that is not an issue, however, as he insisted he has joined Spurs to help build the club.
However, Conte – who left Inter last year after winning the title amid financial limitations – also implied that Tottenham must match his ambition in order to grow.
"I signed a contract for this season and next season," Conte told a news conference ahead of Spurs' FA Cup third-round tie with Morecambe.
"I think that we decided together, the club and I, to go for this decision. I think that I don't need a long contract to be sure to work for a club. I think that the club has to appreciate my job and then extend my contract, but only if I showed the club I deserve this.
"I'm not a coach that wants many years of a contract. Also, it's not fair, because I know very well I'm a top coach with an important salary for the club.
"I'm open to improve the Tottenham situation and I decided to sign a contract with this club and I'm available to give my opinion, to give my vision, and it won't be a problem for me, a short contract – only one year to go. It's OK because Tottenham has to be sure 120 per cent to continue to work with me.
"I'm happy to work with this group because they are giving me great availability. But at the same time, you know the club has to know my vision, has to know my opinion about the situation and especially what is our ambition."
Conte has overseen a turnaround in fortunes for Spurs, going unbeaten in his first eight Premier League games in charge, winning five of them.
Under the ex-Chelsea and Italy boss, Tottenham have scored 14 league goals, conceding just four times.
That is in contrast to 11 top-flight goals netted and 16 goals conceded across 10 games during Nuno's brief stint, with the Portuguese overseeing five wins and as many defeats.
Spurs are far more creative under Conte, averaging 11.5 chances per game compared to 7.1 under Nuno.
Their expected goals (xG) average per game has also doubled, from 1.0 to 2.0, while they are better defensively, facing on average 10 shots per match as opposed to 15, with their mean xGA (expected goals against) value dropping from 1.5 to 0.78.
"When I decided to sign with Tottenham, I know what happened recently in the story of the club," Conte said.
"When you arrive at a new club, you have to go into the situation to understand it very well and to know it very well.
"Outside you can only imagine. It's the same with the players. Outside, you can give an evaluation about a player and then I think when you are the coach of the player and you live with the player day by day, you understand everything about the player and I think it's the same for me.
"I am enjoying my time in Tottenham because I have found a group of players who have shown me a great availability, and they show me the will, the desire to improve in many aspects, and when you have this type of player you are happy."
Edwards urges Luton Town to ignore scrutiny on relegation battle
Rob Edwards is keen for Luton Town to ignore the scrutiny surrounding them in the relegation battle as they prepare for another big game against Wolves.
The Hatters sit one point from safety in the relegation zone after back-to-back 5-1 defeats against Manchester City and Brentford.
While Nottingham Forest also lost last weekend, being beaten 2-0 by Everton, Burnley beat Sheffield United to move them two points behind Luton.
Asked how he is handling the pressure of the relegation battle with only four games left, Edwards said: “The stakes are high already, we all know what it means and it's really important to everyone that's in this at the moment, a number of clubs that are still fighting to try and avoid it and be in the league next season, it's so important.
“Everyone wants to try and stoke the fire I think. We've got a title race on at one end and obviously, there's a relegation battle we're involved in. It's exciting, it's good that we're in the fight, and we've got a chance to get out of it, but really, all I am concerned about right now is our performance tomorrow.”
Glasner challenges Crystal Palace to extend winning run
Oliver Glasner is hopeful that Crystal Palace can maintain their recent winning run when they travel to Fulham on Saturday.
After a run of five games without a victory, the Eagles have won each of their last three games, beating Liverpool, West Ham and Newcastle United.
Their 2-0 win over the Magpies on Wednesday also secured their Premier League safety for another season.
Glasner has given credit to his team’s attitude in turning around their recent run of form but does not want them to slow down despite reaching their goal.
He said: “The players give us confidence because they are listening. Every day we were sitting here and having a meeting and showing them videos and nobody was sleeping, so that gives us good feedback!
"Now we have 39 points and I think it shouldn't be our target to say ‘39 points, oh well done, staying in the Premier League’ because then I would say 'come on guys, go wherever you want and take vacations' – but no.
"We want to improve, we want to win games, and we have the next chance tomorrow at Fulham."
Columbus Crew v CF Montreal: Nancy proud of resilient Champions Cup performance
Wilfried Nancy was delighted with the spirit and grit his Columbus Crew team displayed as they sealed a 2-1 CONCACAF Champions Cup win over CF Monterrey.
The Crew are in a great position to progress to the Champions Cup final after their first-leg win in midweek.
Now, Nancy will turn his focus to a league clash with his former club CF Montreal, but he stressed his pride with his team for their performance against Monterrey.
“I'm really proud of the guys,” said Nancy.
“Because we did a really good game in terms of when we had the difficult moments, we were together. And when we had the ball, we tried to play our game and we had good opportunities also, and we were able to unbalance them.
“We try to convince [the squad] that when we play high-level sport, it's a game of mistakes.
The idea is no matter what happened, can we find a way to bounce back? So we work on that during the practice, but at the end of the day, you have to live this situation. And I think that we've worked upon in the past. So now they’ve been better and the chemistry is better. And they were able to sort it out.”
The Crew are the reigning MLS Cup champions, though they have drawn their last three league fixtures.
While Columbus sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, Montreal are three points back in 10th place.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Columbus Crew – Cucho Hernandez
Hernandez scored his 34th MLS goal (including playoffs) in the Crew’s draw on Saturday. Only the Philadelphia Union’s Daniel Gazdag (36) has more goals than Hernández since he made his MLS debut in July 2022.
CF Montreal – Ariel Lassiter
Lassiter put CF Montreal ahead against Orlando on Saturday with an 88th-minute goal, only to see the Lions equalize in stoppage time. It marked just the second time in club history that Montreal scored a go-ahead goal after the 75th minute but failed to win the match, also doing so against the Fire in 2017.
MATCH PREDICTION: COLUMBUS WIN
Montreal have lost 17 of their 25 away matches in all competitions (W5 D3) dating back to the start of last season, being outscored, 56-21, in those games.
Columbus are unbeaten in 17 straight regular-season home matches (W12 D5) following a pair of draws with D.C. United and the Portland Timbers. The only longer run in club history was a 22-match streak in 2008—09.
Columbus won both of their matches against Montreal last season after winning just two of the previous eight (D2 L4). Montreal (2-1 in August 2022) are one of two visiting teams to record a win at Lower.com Field since June 2022.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Columbus Crew – 56.4%
CF Montreal – 18.6%
Draw – 25%
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