Antonio Conte has insisted he will continue to fight to help Tottenham finish in the top four but knows they have a long way to go after a dismal defeat to Aston Villa.
Spurs were booed off after Emiliano Buendia and Douglas Luiz struck for Unai Emery’s Villa in the second half.
It led to fans calling for chairman Daniel Levy to leave the club and continued Tottenham’s wildly inconsistent form since October with Manchester United moving above them in the Premier League table following their weekend win at Wolves.
“I was expecting this moment,” Conte said. “Now we have to start to fight strong, because the situation in this league you can slip quickly.
“I spoke also with my players. You have to pay attention to fight because from start to the end the road is not long. You can slip quickly if you are not prepared and not humble to understand the situation very well.
“If you ask me if I’m scared, I’m not scared. I believe in my work, I believe in these players, but don’t ask me for things I cannot promise you.
“This is only to create an illusion and create dreams a moment that you have to be realistic. If you are realistic, you know the situation and you face the moment in the right way.”
Conte hit out at the “crazy” talk that Tottenham could be a title contender in the summer and reiterated he had told the club about his expectations going into this campaign.
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Harry Kane had a first-half header cleared off the line by Ashley Young and sent another effort wide but Ivan Perisic’s miscued left-footed strike was Tottenham’s only other genuine opportunity against a side who have been battling to stay out of the bottom three for the majority of 2022.
He added: “Don’t forget three games to go Arsenal were four points [better] than us and that we finished 20 points less from Manchester City and we did a miracle.
“Then I was very clear with the club because in this moment and because I remember very well in the summer, at the start, people talked about Tottenham as title contenders but in my experience it was a bit crazy to read this.
“To become a title contender, to become a team ready to fight to win something, you need to have a solid foundation. That means to have 14 or 15 strong players, quality and the other young players to develop.
“And every season you can add two players but two players to invest £50m, £60m, £70m and in this way it means you are signing important players that improve quality and the level of your team but this is a process guys. It’s a process.”
While World Cup finalists Cristian Romero and Hugo Lloris returned for Spurs, it was an error by Lloris that led to Buendia firing home after he spilled a shot from Luiz in the 50th minute.
It was 2-0 when Luiz exchanged passes with John McGinn and poked home with 17 minutes left to make it three wins out of four for new boss Emery.
Emery, who named Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez on the bench, said: “We spent the 31st of December here in London in a hotel and we wanted to show this afternoon the match is our priority. The players did a very good performance.”
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