Mauricio Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino has urged Tottenham Hotspur to be ready to capitalise on any more Chelsea slip-ups after moving within seven points of the long-time English Premier League leaders.

Spurs’ 2-0 success at Burnley was made all the sweeter by a surprise triumph for Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge that will have given Pochettino’s side further encouragement they can overhaul Chelsea in the remaining nine games.

The title picture could look very different when the Blues kick off at Bour-nemouth next Saturday, given they face a tough assignment against Manchester City on Wednesday with Spurs at Swansea in midweek and then hosting Watford in next weekend’s early kick-off. Pochettino knows their title aspirations still rest on a Chelsea collapse and stressed Tottenham must take full advantage were such a scenario to occur.

“It’s now seven points, it’s completely different to 10,” he said.

“But there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s not dependent on us; it’s dependent on if Chelsea fail. But in that moment if they fail we need to do our job.

“If we do our job we can be there until the end of the season and try to fight for the title. It’s important to keep that mentality and try to win every game that we play.

“We are at seven points now and it is important to be there if Chelsea fail. We are there fighting for the Premier League, to be as high as possible.”

Tottenham became just the fourth top-flight side to win at Turf Moor this season, with a 2-0 victory delivered by second-half strikes from Eric Dier and Son Heung-min.

It was the seventh league game in which Spurs had been missing Harry Kane and their unbeaten record without their talisman remained intact, though the performance was far from a vintage Tottenham display.

The visitors to east Lancashire only started to control proceedings after the interval, and they needed Dier’s cool head to break the deadlock with a controlled finish from a corner before substitute Son doubled the lead after a brilliant move involving Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli.

It was that second goal which epitomised Spurs’ clinical nature for Burnley boss Sean Dyche, who wants his team to become equally ruthless in front of goal.

“We lost the ball, but two passes and it’s in the back of the net because that’s the quality they’ve got,” he said.

“That’s what we’re still building. We get in really good positions and it’s just finding the final moments.

“It’s an important part of us continuing to develop as a side.”