Antonio Conte's latest Chelsea reunion provides test of Tottenham progress

Spurs' form is erratic but incredible comeback at Leicester suggests club moving in right direction

Steven Bergwijn celebrates with Tottenham teammates after scoring the winning goal against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday, January 19, 2022. Reuters

Steven Bergwijn scores the winning goal for Tottenham against Leicester. Reuters

Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu lies in the goal after Tottenham score their third goal. Reuters

Steven Bergwijn celebrates after scoring Tottenham's second goal. Reuters

Steven Bergwijn celebrates scoring Tottenham's third goal against Leicester. AFP

Tottenham players celebrate with fans in the stands after Steven Bergwijn scores the late winning goal against Leicester. AFP

Harry Kane celebrates after the match following Tottenham's late win. Reuters

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, right, and Spurs players and staff celebrate the victory. Reuters

Leicester City's James Maddison slides in to score his team's second goal against Tottenham. Getty Images

James Maddison celebrates scoring Leicester's second goal against Tottenham. Reuters

Harry Kane beats Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel but the ball hits the crossbar. AFP

Harry Kane scores Tottenham's first goal against Leicester. AFP

Patson Daka after scoring Leicester's first goal against Tottenham. Getty Images

Harry Kane skips a challenge from Leicester defender Jannik Vestergaard. AFP

Leicester City's Youri Tielemans attempts to tackle Tottenham Hotspur defender Japhet Tanganga. PA

Tottenham Hotspur's Lucas Moura wins a header in the Leicester box. Reuters

Antonio Conte was glum as he compared his past and present employers. “In this moment we cannot compare Chelsea with Tottenham,” he said.

The two legs of the League Cup semi-final had left him downbeat and, while Spurs’ errors – including his own decision to bench Hugo Lloris – had contributed to the goals and VAR interventions had cost Tottenham three times, a 3-0 aggregate scoreline nonetheless reflected a gulf in class. Over 180 minutes, Conte’s former club were far better than his new charges. After 90, he had branded Tottenham a “middle” team.

There are other tables that suggest otherwise. One point behind fourth-place West Ham, Conte’s transformation of Tottenham could return them to the Champions League. Indeed, win their four games in hand on Chelsea and they would be four points ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s team. Another reunion on Sunday is shaping up as a barometer of progress.

The Conte table may have been distorted by postponements, but over the course of his reign, no one has conceded fewer goals. In four games fewer than Chelsea, he has taken more points.

Only two teams are unbeaten: Manchester City and Spurs, who became the first side in Premier League history to win when they had trailed after 94 minutes, courtesy of Steven Bergwijn’s double in the 95th and 97th minutes at Leicester on Wednesday.

It pointed to Conte’s alchemy. Bergwijn had four league goals in two years for Spurs. Then he got two in 79 seconds. Tottenham had seemed over-reliant on two players to score, Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, but the South Korean was injured and the England captain had been having his worst season since he became established.

But Kane was magnificent at Leicester, scoring, hitting the bar, being denied by a goal-line clearance and providing Bergwijn’s winner. It was his finest display of the season.

Bergwijn’s contribution felt the most dramatic and decisive by a Spurs winger since Lucas Moura completed his 2019 Champions League semi-final against Ajax at a similarly late stage. Ajax have a pertinence again: they have offered £15 million for the previously unproductive Bergwijn.

Conte has been undiplomatic and unsubtle in his attempts to get Tottenham to fund reinforcements. Even his praise for Bergwijn, as he said he wanted to keep the Dutchman, was laced with criticism of the rest of his squad. “For me he is a very important player as we don’t have many creative players.”

Taken in isolation, events at the King Power Stadium would suggest otherwise. Tottenham had 10 shots on target, a further 10 off target and an expected goals score of 4.25. Conte’s switch to 3-5-2, bringing Harry Winks in to join the more solid pair of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp in the heart of midfield, injected progressing passing and he set up Kane’s goal.

But, as Conte’s two meetings with Chelsea show, there are two Tottenhams. There is the side who are unbeaten in the league since Nuno Espirito Santo’s sacking, who went toe to toe with Liverpool in a superb 2-2 draw and who have been frugal and ruthless against most of their inferiors.

And then there is the cup Spurs: embarrassed in defeat to NS Mura, outclassed twice by Chelsea, trailing to Morecambe before Conte summoned Kane, Lucas and Skipp.

The shortcomings of his squad players felt apparent: Tanguy Ndombele has been exiled and it was tempting to wonder if Bergwijn would belong in the bracket of those who fell short of the demanding Conte’s requirements.

Instead, he turned Tottenham into the favourites for fourth. But, as Conte’s bleak words have already shown this month, games against Chelsea can change perceptions for Spurs.