Hugo Lloris has urged his Tottenham teammates to use their north London derby defeat as fuel in their “marathon” season as they look to bounce straight back against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Saturday’s 3-1 loss at the Emirates sees Spurs slip four points behind table-topping Arsenal and signalled the end of their unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
There is little time to dwell on the result, however, with the derby making the start of a brutal run of 13 games in 43 days before club football breaks for the World Cup in Qatar.
The second of those comes at home to Europa League winners Frankfurt on Tuesday evening, with Spurs in need of three points to get their Champions League group stage campaign back on track following last month’s defeat to Sporting in Lisbon.
“It is a taste of defeat that we don’t want to feel again,” Lloris said. “We have to be focused on the next game, which is huge in the Champions League for qualification to the next round, to the knock-out stage, and then Brighton [next weekend].
“We have to respond in the best way because the best answer we can give is to win the next few games.
“This season is very long, it’s a marathon and when you face an opponent like Arsenal then it’s important that if you can’t win then you must not lose the game and unfortunately we couldn’t do that.”
Saturday’s reverse means Spurs remain without a win at the home of their rivals since 2010 and it is the second time in a row they have been comprehensively beaten at the Emirates, following last year’s loss by the same scoreline under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Lloris, however, insists his side are not suffering from a mental block, pointing to Arsenal’s away record in the derby, which is similarly poor, the Gunners having not won at Spurs in eight years.
“I think if you look at the last few years, Arsenal manage well the derby at home, we manage the derbies at home and I believe this game, the details move the result and it was the case again,” he added.
“Every defeat is painful and if we want to continue to grow as a team then we have to take this feeling and change it as possible, as soon as you lose one game, you have to bounce back as a team and make a run of good results to change this feeling.”
