Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Micky van de Ven believes that it is too early to label his side contenders for the Premier League title despite their impressive start to the campaign.
Following a chaotic 2022-23 season in which Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason all oversaw operations from the touchline, Spurs entered the new term without any form of European football for the first time in 14 years.
A protracted managerial search saw Daniel Levy take a punt on Celtic treble-winner Ange Postecoglou, whose high-pressing, offensive system has paid dividends during his earliest weeks in the job.
From their opening seven Premier League fixtures, Tottenham have gleaned 17 points to cement a second-placed standing in the embryonic table, only one point behind reigning champions Manchester City.
The Lilywhites have also found the back of the net at least twice in all seven top-flight games under Postecoglou so far, although they did bow out of the EFL Cup in the second round at the hands of Fulham back in August.
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A penalty-shootout loss at Craven Cottage means that Tottenham will be condemned to go at least 16 years without a major trophy, having not lifted a piece of silverware since the 2007-08 EFL Cup.
Nevertheless, their revival under Postecoglou has led to early murmurings about a possible title charge in 2023-24, which Van de Ven believes is premature, but the Dutchman has vowed to kick on as the season progresses.
"It's early to say. But hopefully we can keep pushing now and we are going to see where it's going to end," the Evening Standard quotes Van de Ven as saying.
"It's early to say if we are title candidates this year but we will keep pushing, keep pushing and we're going to see. We want the best this season so we're going to see where it will end.
"We are not afraid of any team. We will keep playing our way and hopefully we can improve even more from how we are playing now and hopefully we can keep pushing."
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Summer signing Van de Ven has played a major part in Tottenham's bright start since his arrival from Wolfsburg in an initial £34.5m deal, playing every minute of his side's Premier League campaign so far.
With Postecoglou switching to a four-man defence, Van de Ven immediately became Cristian Romero's first-choice partner, consigning the likes of Eric Dier and Ben Davies to peripheral roles.
Spurs have conceded in each of their last four Premier League contests, but they maintained their unbeaten start to the season in controversial circumstances on Saturday, overcoming Liverpool 2-1 thanks to a late Joel Matip own goal.
However, the nine-man Reds had a Luis Diaz goal wrongly disallowed for an incorrect offside call, which would have put Jurgen Klopp's men 1-0 up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs could temporarily rise to the top of the table with victory over Luton Town on Saturday lunchtime before Premier League football pauses for the October international break.
Ben Knapton
