Tottenham Hotspur has not had a good stretch of seasons in the English Premier League. They've been doing better than the past few decades, regularly in and around the top six. Unfortunately for their fans, however, Spurs have not been able to get their hands on the title.

After retaining Harry Kane over the summer, Spurs were hoping for a title challenge again in 2021-22. The season started abysmally under incumbent manager Nuno Espirito Santo, though, who was fired on November 1st. In came Antonio Conte, who quickly turned Spurs' season around.

Riding the wave of his recent success, here are two ways Antonio Conte is making Tottenham Hotspur a future EPL winner.

Spurs future under Antonio Conte 

1. Formation and tactics 

Let's make one thing clear: Antonio Conte did not discover something new. Formations with three players in the backline have been a staple of Italian coaches for a while now. Using that formation, however, is when Conte enjoyed his most success in the past. In his trophy cabinet, he has five Serie A titles with Juventus and Inter, and one EPL title with Chelsea. By the early indicators of his work with Tottenham, Conte should be clearing space for one more.

As noted above, he introduced a system with three players at the back right away at Spurs. He came in with a plan to better utilize the attacking talent of his wingbacks, and he has done that in a great way. Both Sergio Reguillion on the left and Emerson Royal on the right are amazing pieces going forward. However, when thinking about this formation, there is one thing that everyone seems to forget.

When Spurs played two attacking fullbacks and two center-backs under the last manager, it left a ton of space in the back. That space had to be covered by players in the midfield, thus the defensive midfielder usually played between the center-backs. That strategy left a wide gap in the middle of the field, where Spurs were often overrun. With three center-backs, both Regullion and Emerson can commit forward and the trio at the back can cover all the gaps.

With all due respect to Espirito Santo, he was simply tactically overmatched, while Tottenham looks like a much-improved team with Conte at the helm. The results speak for themselves, as Conte has only one loss in eleven games. If Conte can continue implementing this system, the Spurs will be ready for a true championship challenge in the next few years.

2. Player management and motivation 

A huge part of managing any sports team is the motivation of the players. Not much is known about the status of the locker room under Espirito Santo, but under Conte, it looks impressive. After getting his first win as Spurs coach, a 2-1 victory over Leeds United, Conte celebrated like he just won the entire league. That might look funny, in a sense, but it shows passion.

The problem for the Spurs was never the quality of players. They have Kane, Heung Min-Son, Lucas Moura and many others who would be starters on teams that are fighting for championships. However, the motivation of these players was clearly lacking. Conte is a very passionate coach, and always has been dating back to his early days managing teams. While he had some issues with players in the past, the immediate effect on this Spurs group is visible.

This Spurs team looked deflated at moments this season, and that is one thing no coach or fan wants to see. That's changed since the introduction of Conte. Quality and talent do not mean much without effort and passion, and the start of this season for Spurs was an obvious example of that dynamic. However, now that quality and talent are paired up with effort, the results are coming for Tottenham.

This season might be lost due to various circumstances. However, if Spurs are serious about building this team with Conte pulling the reins, they're in for a few fun seasons. It won't always be perfect, obviously. There will be moments when some fans would want Conte to be booted. But if they can show patience and resiliency, Tottenham could be winning a title in a couple years.