Igor Tudor ‘100 per cent’ sure Tottenham will be in Premier League next season

Igor Tudor is “100 per cent” confident Tottenham will be a Premier League club next season.

Tudor was announced as Spurs’ interim head coach last Saturday after Thomas Frank was sacked on February 11 following a run of two wins in 17 Premier League matches.

It has left Tottenham in 16th position and only five points above the relegation zone ahead of Sunday’s north London derby with leaders Arsenal, but experienced boss Tudor has no doubt he can achieve his goal in N17.

Asked how confident he was that Spurs would be in the Premier League next season, Tudor insisted: “One hundred per cent.

“I’m not here to enjoy. I’m here to work. It’s the first moment and there’s work to do. It’s a privilege to be here.”

Ex-Juventus and Lazio boss Tudor has been joined at Tottenham by former Brighton coach Bruno Saltor, who has teamed up with Riccardo Ragnacci and Tomislav Rogic as part of the Croatian’s backroom staff. Andreas Georgson has remained as set-piece coach.

There were minimal positives for the 47-year-old to provide on the availability front, with Spurs set to be without at least 11 players due to injury and suspension.

Tudor said: “As you know this is a very rare situation that you find with 10 players injured, with big injuries also.

“We made training with 13 (outfield) players. It is how it is. It is not fantastic, beautiful but in this case it’s an even bigger challenge to succeed. Thirteen we will have for sure and it’s quite enough to achieve what we want on Sunday.

“The first goal of course I understand the importance of this game. This is a derby, a north London derby. Everybody expects the three points from us. We are aware of this, but what was my goal in this first sessions we made is that we became a team.

“That we became a team with a really right way of going to war, a team who want to suffer, we need to suffer. To fight, to run, to have the right mentality, also, this is the start.”

Even though Spurs have endured torrid Premier League form across the last 12 months, Tudor backed the “quality” in the squad to steer them clear of trouble.

“This is a team that is full of quality,” Tudor said.

“I believe full of talented players, with good motor engines. I like to say the legs who can run, you know, so there is plenty of potential.”

Tudor confirmed suspended Cristian Romero will remain Tottenham captain, but refused to reveal who would wear the armband on Sunday.

The former Marseille manager has spoken at length with the leadership group at the club about his expectations.

He said: “You need to speak about these values but also about concrete things on the pitch and what you want because the players need and they want to have clarity about what we want.

“This was a goal to send two messages about people, about men, about values and about what we want to play, so these two things together working.”