Harry Diamond
Jose Mourinho admits Tottenham’s hopes of securing a top-four finish hang in the balance following the club’s ‘difficult’ 1-0 home defeat to Liverpool on Saturday evening.
The North London side were beaten by the runaway league leaders at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Roberto Firmino scoring the only goal of the game for the visitors to condemn Spurs to an eighth league defeat of the season.
Spurs pushed hard for an equaliser in the closing stages as Liverpool began to tire, with both Son Heung-Min and Giovani Lo Celso wasting clear opportunities to equalise, Mourinho claiming that his injury-hit team deserved more from what was a ‘difficult’ encounter against Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten side.
“This is football,” Mourinho told BBC Sport. “Sometimes you get more than you deserve. Sometimes you get less. This was an occasion when we got nothing when we deserved something.
“This is the best team in the world against a team in a difficult moment, with injuries, in a difficult part of the season. The boys were fantastic when we tried to change and create problems.”
Defeat leaves Spurs sitting in eighth in the Premier League, nine points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea, their London rivals securing a 3-0 victory over Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
Speaking about their chances of making it into the top four, Mourinho admitted that his side have always faced a difficult task to secure Champions League football for next season given the 12 point gap when he took over.
“It is possible to talk about top four when you start the season on zero points. But it is hard to talk about it when you start at minus 12.”
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