Tottenham have a must-win game to play on Saturday when they travel across the capital to the Brentford Community Stadium. The Bees are currently 12th in the Premier League, just a point behind the team Spurs lost 1-0 to last weekend.
Thomas Frank's side have only recently beaten Chelsea and West Ham, so it won't be easy for Antonio Conte's side to pick up a vital three points that they need for their top four battle. With Arsenal now level on points with the Lilywhites, a defeat on Saturday could see Tottenham drop out of the final Champions League spot in the table.
Against Graham Potter's side, Spurs had just five shots at goal, with none on target. The display was far from the level of performance Conte's squad have produced in recent games, and he will need it to be a one off as they approach their final six games of the season.
READ MORE: Tottenham's final six Premier League fixtures compared to Arsenal, Man Utd, West Ham and Chelsea
Tottenham's clash against Brentford could come with some added pressure, as Arsenal play Man United before them and if either side manage to secure all three points, they will knock Spurs off the fourth spot. However, this will hopefully quickly change once again and here is what football.london noticed in training, ahead of the clash.
Conte's shouts
The Spurs boss shows his passion in every game on the touchline and can be seen shouting instructions to his players throughout most games. Not only does this help the players on the pitch, it also shows Conte's dedication to his side and highlights his winning mentality.
This is clearly no different in training, as the recent session showed. After the recent defeat, the 52-year-old wasn't likely to be smiling and joking around and the training pictures showed his arms outstretched and a stern look on his face, indicating his feelings.
In his pre-match press conference on Thursday this dedication was reiterated, when he was asked about Son Heung-min's improvement and he went on to talk about the whole team. "You know very well that we're talking about an important player for me. Sonny, his time with Tottenham from the start until now, has been amazing," Conte admitted.
"He has to try to continue in this way, because we need to improve, to continue to score. It'll be very important to finish the season with good stats for every player but at the same it would be very important to finish with the team in the best possible position at the end. If we're able to match both situations it'll be good for the players and the club."
Lack of game time doesn't stop smiles
With Tottenham's fight for a top four spot still ongoing, Conte has to play what he believes is his strongest starting XI is in every game. This has meant that apart from forced rotations due to injury, there haven't been many changes to the Spurs line-ups in recent games.
This has meant the likes of Harry Winks and Davinson Sanchez have been struggling for match minutes. But this didn't stop the smiles on their faces during training.
"I think that these players are improving," Conte explained in his press conference when asked about Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguilon going from full-backs to wing-backs. "We are talking about young players with a lot of space for improvement and we are working with them, with Emerson, Sergio, also with [Ryan] Sessegnon, but I hope from now until the end to have all the players available, especially in these roles otherwise it becomes very difficult to face this situation."
The Italian's mention of having all his players available could be vital to Spurs in their final six games. Tottenham have already had to deal with injuries to Cristian Romero and Sessegnon this season, with Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty all still recovering from their setbacks.
Anything can happen as each game goes by, and although Conte is hoping he will have the rest of his squad available until the end of the season, the fringe players need to continue working hard and be ready to step in and impress if they are called upon.
Fighting until the end
On paper, Tottenham have had the more favourable fixtures compared with their Premier League rivals battling for Champions League football for next season. However, recent results have shown that this doesn't mean games will always turn out as expected.
Therefore Spurs need to continue to fight in every game, to try and get as many points as possible, which Conte also reiterated when speaking to the media. "I think that we have to fight with Arsenal, who showed yesterday they're in good form, United, West Ham and also Wolverhampton," he explained.
"We have to think about ourselves. We showed we deserved to be in this race, we earned to be in this race and now we have to fight until the end. The last second of the last game we'll see our place this table."
This hard work was also seen in the recent training pictures. Spurs' sessions usually consist of some work indoors, before going out onto the training pitch to go through some drills and/or small-sided matches.
The pictures showed a lot of the indoor work the squad had been doing, which involves stretching and strength and conditioning work with various pieces of equipment. The players all looked to be concentrating and this is what Conte will need them to continue doing, both on and off the pitch.
