Hugo Lloris plays down fears over an early Tottenham exit for Antonio Conte: ‘He won’t give up!’

Tottenham captain Hugo Lloris has played down fears over Antonio Conte’s commitment to the club, saying the head coach is not the type to “give up in any circumstances”.

Spurs’ up-down form continued last night as they recovered from Saturday’s defeat to Manchester United with a 2-0 win over Brighton, narrowing the gap to fourth-placed Arsenal to three points.

Conte’s mood has tended to fluctuate in line with his side’s results and, on the eve of the game at the Amex, he dropped another suggestion he could walk away in the summer, saying he would “stop” if chairman Daniel Levy or managing director Fabio Paratici do not share his “vision”.

Lloris says the squad understand and share Conte’s frustration over their inconsistent form but insists players and coaching staff alike believe Spurs are steadily improving.

“After four months we start to know each other well, I think Antonio is showing a lot of passion and he’s doing his job with a lot of emotion,” Lloris said. “At some moments we can understand his frustration. The players as well, we have this frustration but we keep going, we keep working.

“Antonio and his staff provided the best from day one and they are not the kind of people who are going to give up in any circumstances.

“In the Premier League you face difficulties but we — everyone — feel the improvement. We really feel the way and the direction we want to take as a team and I think game by game we want to keep improving to make the chance to compete for the final race.”

Conte has challenged his players to finish in the top four and a comfortable win on the south coast, sealed by goals from Cristian Romero and record-breaker Harry Kane, closed the gap to Arsenal, who lost 2-0 to Liverpool, and moved Spurs level