Tottenham picked up a vital 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough last weekend to remain nine points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men had seen the Blues beat North London rivals Arsenal earlier on Saturday, but they themselves got the job done against a stubborn Boro side, with Harry Kane’s second half penalty enough to secure all three points.

It means that the gap remains at nine points with just 14 games to go, but it also extends Spurs’ unbeaten league run to nine matches, of which they have won seven.

Overall, Pochettino’s men have won 14 of their 24 Premier League matches this term, but their tally of two defeats, coming at the hands of Chelsea and Manchester United, is the lowest of any side in the top-flight.

Thus, there are plenty of positives to take into the final 14 games of the campaign, and Tottenham will undoubtedly feel that they have the players and the quality to reel Chelsea in come May.

Thus, here are THREE reasons why Tottenham can still catch Premier League leaders Chelsea…

Unbeaten since December 11

Only Manchester United (15) are on a longer unbeaten streak in the Premier League than Tottenham, with Spurs’ last defeat coming at the hands of Jose Mourinho’s men on December 11.

Since then though, Pochettino’s side have won seven of their nine league games, with draws against Manchester City and Sunderland not stemming their momentum too much, as they got back to winning ways with a 1-0 success over Middlesbrough last weekend.

Clearly, Tottenham are in the midst of something very good – they are continuously picking up points and, even when they don’t always get the goals, they at least aren’t getting beat.

It’s the perfect recipe for going on a long winning streak, which they’ll need to do to get near to Chelsea.

Front players in fine form

Since Harry Kane returned from injury in Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Arsenal back in November, he, Christian Eriksen, and Dele Alli have scored 25 goals and laid on nine assists between them in the Premier League.

That’s a staggering amount from a front three which, on their day, are almost unplayable.

England striker Kane has bagged most of the goals, 12 of the 25, yet even when he hasn’t got on the scoresheet, he’s assisted Alli’s second against Watford, as well as Son Heung-min’s equaliser against Manchester City.

The same can be said of the other two, with Eriksen scoring five and assisting five, while 20-year-old Alli has eight goals and two assists in the same period.

The beauty of these three being in form is that, even if one of them is having an off day, the other two are playing well enough to get the goals necessary to win games – Alli wasn’t great against Middlesbrough on Saturday, and Eriksen wasn’t at his best either, yet Kane dispatched the winning penalty.

It’s a front three that will continue to cause defences problems for the rest of the season, and there’s no doubt that they possess the goals and creativity to help Spurs get near to Chelsea.

Defensively resolute

Olivier Giroud’s late header for Arsenal was the 17th goal Chelsea have conceded this season, which means that Spurs are now the division’s lowest having seen just 16 go past them thus far.

And it’s this defensive stability that has given them a shot at winning the Premier League title this season.

Pochettino’s men have kept 11 clean sheets in the league this term, and a lot of that is down to the solid central defensive partnership of Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld, as well as the supreme efforts of full-backs Danny Rose and Kyle Walker.

Captain Hugo Lloris, who albeit made two costly errors against Manchester City in December, has also been excellent, and even when they have had injuries to the aforementioned five, the deputies have come in and done a great job at the back.

With Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele marshalling and protecting the back four, it’s going to take some doing to break Spurs down for the rest of the campaign, and this resilience could be the foundation for a winning run which puts the pressure on leaders Chelsea.