Thursday 3 March 2016 17:15, UK
Mauricio Pochettino admits Tottenham's defeat to West Ham was a missed opportunity but insists his squad is not suffering from nerves ahead of the run-in.
Spurs fell to a 1-0 defeat on their final visit to Upton Park to remain three points behind league leaders Leicester, although they did not lose any ground on title rivals Arsenal and Manchester City, who also suffered damaging defeats on Wednesday night.
Pochettino's side will go into Saturday's north London derby three points clear of their rivals and the Argentine was phlegmatic in his appraisal of a performance that ended a run of six straight league wins.
"We saw yesterday and on Tuesday how competitive it is in the Premier League and it's tough to be on the top. We missed a good opportunity last night," he said ahead of Arsenal's trip to White Hart Lane.
"It was not nerves. The squad is confident. It was only one game, our fourth defeat of the season.
"It's not pressure, it's just sometimes it's impossible to play the way we played against Swansea or Fiorentina. We tried in the second half and we had the chance to score, but I don't think the players feel the pressure to play for the top.
"A lot of things made it difficult but when you analyse and are cold in front of the TV, I am more happy now than I was last night because I think the effort was good and we deserved more, but when you don't score it's difficult."
Spurs will have the chance to go six points clear of Arsenal in the lunchtime kick-off on Saturday and Pochettino is aware of the importance of the clash with the Gunners.
"We need to improve for the next game. It's a very important game to keep our position in the table," he added.
"You never know. There are 10 games and a lot of points to play for. Anything can happen, we must keep working hard and try to improve in every game."
