Speaking on Sky Sports (via the Daily Mail) yesterday, Roy Keane doubted Tottenham Hotspur's 'X factor' when it came to their ability to potentially win the Premier League title. 

Indeed, that came only a few weeks after Stan Collymore questioned the same sort of unmeasurable factor in Harry Kane's goal scoring expertise. 

Still, with Spurs top of the league and Kane leading the way in terms of goal contributions (16) by some margin, Gary Mabbutt has shared his belief on his former side's chances. 

Talking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT, the Spurs legend revealed he thinks Mourinho's side are genuine challengers this time around. 

''Everyone talks about Spurs and how they're not really, you know, a league winning team, and those comments from pundits,'' said the 1991 FA Cup winner. 

''Nonsense. This season, I think Spurs are going to be up there.''

Given their start to the campaign and their ability to rotate players pretty much en masse - as we saw during the games against Ludogorets and Chelsea between Thursday and Sunday last week - it's hard to look past them as contenders. 

Mourinho has won the competition three times with Jonathan Liew of the Guardian describing him as the perfect man for pandemic football and the difficulties the strange nature of this season throws up. 

Having already beaten Manchester City and the injury crisis engulfing Liverpool, the title race does at least appear to be more open than usual this time around. 

With that in mind, Mabbutt looks spot on in his assessment. Even if Mourinho himself has described his side as a 'little pony'. 

We've head that from the self-proclaimed 'Special One' before, with his 'little horse' of a Chelsea side winning the league little over a year after.