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Antonio Conte hailed his Tottenham side for showing a strong mentality to return to winning ways against Nottingham Forest, but made it clear this is only the start.
A 3-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw the north London side end a streak of three consecutive defeats in all competitions, having exited the FA Cup and Champions League either side of a Premier League defeat at Wolves.
A brace from Harry Kane was added to by Son Heung-min’s second-half effort to ease the pressure upon Conte, following a sequence of results where his future was brought into question.
That pressure did not affect his side, however, who secured three points comfortably, though Conte was keen to stress this has to be a benchmark for their upcoming matches.
“Today was important, especially because after the game against Milan, we weren’t able to go to the next round of the Champions League, but today it was really important because we know we only have the league now,” he told a post-match press conference.
“We have only 11 games to go, we needed to bounce back and show that we are strong mentally and in this type of situation the morale can be really down.
“Instead I saw the right desire to get a win, and it was positive, but at the same time I said to my players this has to be the start.”
Victory against Forest moved Spurs six points clear of Liverpool in the hunt for Champions League football after Jurgen Klopp’s side suffered a shock defeat to Bournemouth earlier in the day, but Conte insisted the results of others have no bearing on his team.
“We have to think about ourselves and earlier I was asked about Liverpool losing. We have to think about ourselves,” he said.
“A top club has to look at themselves, not at other results. Think about getting the three points and then it doesn’t matter what the other team does.
“We have to do the best we can until the end of the season and then see where we are.”
