Typical Tottenham. As news filtered through on Wednesday that Mauricio Pochettino’s side had lost against West Ham, many will have said those two words.

That is what happens to Tottenham, isn’t it? They get into a great position, they threaten to achieve something significant but, when it comes to the crunch, they fluff their lines. A 1-0 defeat at Upton Park, then, was a result plenty would have felt was in keeping with tradition.

The thing is, there is nothing typical about this Tottenham side, and that was their first away defeat in the league since the opening day of the season against Manchester United. Now, as they go into the most significant north London derby since the 1991 FA Cup semi-final, Pochettino remains on target to pull off what would be the greatest managerial job in Premier League history.

We have, for good reason, been swept along with the story of Leicester City. If they were to be crowned champions in May, it would have to go down as the greatest achievement in English football.

Spurs players trudge off at the Boleyn Ground after West Ham ended their run of six straight victories

Leicester are three points clear of Tottenham at the top of the table with ten games to play

But the attention Leicester have commanded has taken some of the spotlight away from the remarkable results Pochettino has masterminded. What we have seen from the Argentine is a success story for coaching, one that could take his team to the pinnacle of the domestic game.

This performance would be the greatest I’ve seen in the Premier League because you don’t associate Tottenham with being anywhere near the title. Yes, they are one of our biggest clubs but they have been champions only twice in 133 years (1950-51 and 1960-61).

Never mind the defeat by West Ham — anything can happen in a derby — Tottenham, with the best defensive record in the Premier League and the second highest scorers, look ready to be in there fighting until the end.

So much about them impresses me. If I were a manager, I would want my team to play the way Pochettino’s team does. They are powerful and relentless, with a great balance between defence and attack. It is what Jurgen Klopp is striving for at Liverpool.

Pochettino is a coach who improves players. Harry Kane, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Mousa Dembele: they were all at White Hart Lane before Pochettino arrived but they have thrived under his guidance.

Young players respond to him, too. Look at the strides Dele Alli has made since he arrived from MK Dons. Look at the way Eric Dier, who was a central defender, has been reinvented as a midfielder; Tom Carroll, meanwhile, is starting to fulfil his potential.

Mauricio Pochettino takes a keen interest in his players and is pictured at the warm-up in Fiorentina

In his second season at Spurs, Pochettino has transformed Tottenham into serious title contenders

Then, above all, there is the balance sheet. Tottenham are £6.5million in profit for the last four transfer windows, since they lured Pochettino from Southampton and followed that up by appointing Paul Mitchell, who worked with Pochettino at St Mary’s, as head of recruitment. A title challenger in the black? In an era when clubs invest vast sums just to retain top-flight status, for Pochettino to have Spurs placed to attack in the final straight is one of the most remarkable achievements you will see. Leicester have spent £48.75m in the same period.

It is why Tottenham are on the cusp of outstripping the other champions since 1992. Blackburn, in 1994-95, would perhaps come closest in terms of a story. They, though, can’t compare to Tottenham.

It is a myth that they bought the title, as Graeme Le Saux, Colin Hendry, Stuart Ripley, Tim Sherwood and Jason Wilcox were signed for next to nothing.

Yet Blackburn twice smashed the British transfer record for Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton, while Tim Flowers became Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper. They spent when required to bolster their squad, something from which Pochettino has refrained.

Chelsea had waited 50 years before they became champions in 2004-05 but Jose Mourinho spent huge money to get them over the line and the blocks had been put in place for years before, starting under Ruud Gullit. And 12 months before they won the title, Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea finished second.

What Arsene Wenger achieved in 1998 with the Double was phenomenal, as he did not spend big to recruit Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Nicolas Anelka, but he inherited the defence from George Graham’s era — men who knew how to win a title — and a genius in Dennis Bergkamp.

Blackburn broke the British transfer record to bring Alan Shearer to Ewood Park from Southampton

Nicolas Anelka proved a stellar signing for Arsene Wenger, helping Arsenal win the Double in 1998

Knowhow might be an issue when it comes to the crunch as this Tottenham squad enter new territory with regards to pressure. It will be intriguing to see how they handle the intensity of the clash with their neighbours.

Pochettino is working to remove the inferiority complex Tottenham have had about Arsenal and maybe Kane’s double in the corresponding match last season will help change the dynamic around this fixture. This group, in this contest at least, can’t be weighed down by history.Now Tottenham have the chance to make history. Though they still have the Europa League on their agenda, being out the FA Cup is a blessing for them as they would not have been able to juggle the demands of three competitions.

With the energy Tottenham put into every game, a fixture pile-up would have seen something crack and had a serious impact on their title hopes. They now have an opportunity that might not come around again for 20 years or more.

Tottenham are the sixth biggest club in England. This has been the campaign in which the five above them — Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City — have all had problems and change but there is no way they will all underperform in 2016-17.

Even if Tottenham win the Premier League this season, the best they could hope for in 12 months is finishing in the top four again, so it gives you a sense of what it is at stake and how well Pochettino has done to get them here. If he pulls it off, it will be the best success of the modern era.

The likes of Ryan Mason, Nacer Chadli and Dele Alli are all thriving under Pochettino's watchful eye

Old-style leaders are yesterday’s men

Where are all the leaders? After Arsenal suffered a costly defeat by Swansea, it was one of the first things their supporters asked.

They want to know where to find this generation’s Tony Adams, the man who can drag them through a crisis, someone who will stand tall at the most difficult moment and carry the team over the line.

It was clear, after Arsenal had lost ground in the title race, that they wanted some kind of reaction from manager Arsene Wenger, too.

But what exactly? Wenger has not thrown tea cups or gone berserk on the touchline in the past 20 years so why would he start now?

Tony Adams wins the ball against Alan Shearer in typically robust fashion during 1998's FA Cup final

Lacking leaders, though, is not just Arsenal’s problem. It’s a problem for football in general.

Liverpudlians have asked ‘where is our Steven Gerrard?’ at times this season and Manchester United fans want to know where is the modern equivalent of Roy Keane? Who is Tottenham’s leader?

Do people think Wes Morgan is Leicester’s leader? If so, why were they not calling him a leader last season when his side were fighting relegation and he had some difficult games? Have perceptions changed about him just because he is in form?

The blunt truth is, that type of player — those who can be demonstrative and aggressive — who we regard as being leaders, such as Adams and Keane, belong to a different era. Now it is a case of players doing it in a different way, leading by example with their performances.

With United trailing by two early goals in Turin, Roy Keane put in a performance for the ages, as the Red Devils scored three to seal Manchester United's place in the 1999 Champions League final

Man of the week: Adam Lallana

Missing a penalty in a shootout at Wembley could rattle the confidence of some players but that wasn’t the case for the Liverpool midfielder.

He did well when he came off the bench in the Capital One Cup final, helping change the game with fellow substitute Divock Origi, but he showed form in the 3-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday that we had not seen since he came to Anfield.

There is no doubting Lallana has ability. His energy is impressive, too, as he has no trouble covering a lot of ground. But what he did in midweek, with a goal and an assist, was provide an end product to his game, which even he has admitted has been lacking.

Adam Lallana has technical ability and energy and showed promise in the midweek game against City

Lallana reminds me, in some ways, of my old team-mate Vladimir Smicer. He was very good between the boxes and technically he was excellent — you would see that every day in training — but at times he lacked conviction in decisive moments.

If Lallana — a player who I like — wants to be part of Jurgen Klopp’s plans in the future, the performance he produced against City has to be replicated. There could be no better place for him to make another statement than at Crystal Palace.

Vladimir Smicer came on as sub in his last Liverpool game, scoring the second against AC Milan

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