LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham are better organised and more flexible than the side that challenged for the title in the 2011-12 season, according to Tom Huddlestone.
Huddlestone, 29, spent eight years at Spurs until 2013, playing in Harry Redknapp's entertainers, who came within a whisker of beating eventual champions Manchester City in January 2012, a result that could have moved them to within two points of the summit. They eventually collapsed to finish fourth.
The midfielder, now at Hull City, does not believe Redknapp's team were ever seriously close to winning the title but he feels the current Spurs side are genuine contenders.
"I don't think we ever came that close," Huddlestone said after Tottenham's 3-0 win over Hull at White Hart Lane on Wednesday. "They [Spurs] have improved the squad definitely from last season and they came close last season.
"The Manchester clubs and Chelsea are obviously doing well but they are all going to go through a bad spell. It is who has the worse bad spell.
"I think this team are probably a bit more organised than the good teams I played in here. Pochettino has got them playing the right way and they have got three or four different systems they can play. It all looks good for the future."
Hull were comfortably beaten by Tottenham in the end but Huddlestone credited one of his former teammates Hugo Lloris with ensuring the visitors did not equalise in a strong spell at the end of the first half.
"Hugo was here when I was here and I said at the time and I still think he is in the top four or five in the world and as you saw tonight, he is definitely up there," Huddlestone said.
"I thought we did alright in patches. A couple of sloppy goals and then obviously when it is 2-0, they get their confidence up and their fans are right behind them.
"Even at 1-0, I thought we were still in it and created a couple of decent chances to get level. But once they get the second and third, it is a tall order
"We have been creating chances but letting too many in. But as our manager said to us afterwards, the good thing is that we are still creating decent chances. Hopefully sooner rather than later it will click and we will put a few in the back of the net.
"It is worrying if you are not getting the chances but because we are creating chances, I think it is just a case of keep going, working hard, and hopefully they will start dropping sooner rather than later."