In and out February

February 2017 has been an in and out month for Spurs. We've been in and out of form. We remain in the FA Cup, but took an inglorious exit from the Europa League. We've been in and out of goals.

Mathematically, we remain in the title race, but with Chelsea 10 points clear and showing no sign of letting up in their relentless accumulation of points, realistically none of the following teams are likely to catch them. Chelsea's toughest remaining games are at home to Man City and away to Man Utd. Their next game at West Ham's London Stadium will be an indicator of the ability of Conte's side to win the potential banana skin games.

In the hope that Chelsea do slip up, Spurs remain leaders of the pursuit, having started and ended the month in second place. That is despite the disappointing defeat at Liverpool, whose one Premier League win this year has come against us. Liverpool's latest defeat to a Ranieri-less Leicester leaves Jurgen Klopp's side outside the top four albeit by just one point.

Our form early in the month was poor because we failed to score a goal from open play in the first three games, managing to beat struggling Middlesbrough because of a penalty. That was converted by Harry Kane who has scored 7 goals this month, incuding hat-tricks in the FA Cup at Fulham, and last Sunday against Stoke. Harry's scoring record is discussed in the latest Premier League review

Perhaps a big reason for our return to form was Jan Vertonghen, who missed 6 games in January and February through injury. We didn't perform well in any of those games, so Jan's presence in the heart of the defence is as big an influence as a fit Toby Alderweireld, who has also had his injury troubles this season. Jan wins this month's player of the month award, probably because he was absent for the first three games against Middlesbrough, Liverpool, and away to Gent. Although we went out of The Europa League, Jan was one of the 10 valiant men who tried so hard to win at Wembley after Dele Alli's first half sending off. Incidentally, that was our first red card since the 2014-15 season, although we have had three suspensions imposed following post-match reviews in the last year. (Alli, Dembele and Sissoko).

Alderweireld, Davies, Wanyama, Dele Alli and Kane have started every game for us this month, whilst Eriksen and Dembele came off the bench in the one game they didn't start. Lloris, Walker, and Dier have played five. We have missed Danny Rose completely this month, and still haven't seen Lamela since October. Harry Winks continues to impress whenever given the chance, and Son did have some impact when he came on at Wembey against Gent. Unfortunately Vincent Janssen is becoming outcast, and couldn't even get game time against Stoke when we were 4-0 up at half-time.

Now we are out of Europe, we have just three games in March, all at home. I expect us to reach the FA Cup semi-finals and to still be second at the end of the month!

Danny Rose leads the pack for our Player of the Season vote, but the way things are going, Harry Kane will get lots of emotional support from the wider audience if he keeps banging the goals in. Victor Wanyama was the best of the bunch this month after Jan Vertonghen, and remains a consistent star for Spurs.

· Review the 2016-17 Premier League season here

Don't forget to check out the players' current figures re. appearances, cards, goals scored and accumulated ratings to date at the bottom of this page.

...if you want to read reports of the matches played during this season, then links are on the Spurs Odyssey Fixtures/Reports page here. By working your way back through the previous month's figures, you can review the performances over the last 17 years!