Tottenham manager Antonio Conte insists his players should be “proud” to even be in the hunt for Champions League qualification despite Saturday night’s draw to Brentford giving Arsenal the advantage. Spurs could not even a shot on target, for the second successive match, as they drew 0-0 against their London rivals just hours after Arsenal beat Manchester United to move fourth.
Having lost to Brighton and drawn with Brentford in their last two games, Spurs are now two points behind Arsenal with five Premier League matches left to play this season. Despite that, Conte said Spurs’ point away against the Bees was a good result in the circumstances.
And he urged his players to be proud of their efforts since November. The north Londoners were eighth in the table and well out of the top-four picture when the Italian first took over from the sacked Nuno Espirito Santo.
Despite slipping up to give Arsenal control over the top-four race, Conte said to Sky Sports: “We’re trying to do our best. For sure we want to reach the best possible result. We started in a low position in November. We made many improvements but we need to continue to improve.
“It’s not enough if we want to stay in the race for fourth place. But we must be proud that we stay in this race. We started this work in November. To see the point that now we are on, we have to be proud. We have to try to give our best.
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“For sure in November you can’t imagine, especially for me, this question. But now we are in this race and we want to try to stay. We know it’s very difficult. We have to live with this situation with enthusiasm. Today’s a good draw. It was fair. Against a Brentford that played with a good intensity and were very dangerous with set pieces.”
Conte felt Spurs might’ve been sharper in possession, however. The visitors did not muster a single shot on target, as they also failed to in the 1-0 loss at home to Brighton a week earlier. He added: “A tough game. For sure it was a very difficult game. They’re a very physical team and they tried to exploit set pieces in a dangerous way, corners, throw-ins. Defensively we were good.
“But at the same time I think we can do much better with the ball to create more chances to score. The intensity was very high and there were many tackles but we knew what type of game we would be coming to play. It’s a draw and I think when you cannot win, it’s important to take one point and we did this.”
Defender Eric Dier said: “We know what’s at stake. I think in the last three games a lot changed and in the next three a lot can change. We need to focus on ourselves and try to win all of our games. Today is a hiccup but we have no time to feel sorry for ourselves.
“We have to go again next weekend. It’s still in our hands because we have to play [Arsenal]. We have a lot of games to play before that. A lot can change. We have to stay in our bubble and try to figure out why we haven’t been fluid the last few games.”