‘Not good enough’; Conte staying grounded but makes bold Tottenham statement after City scalp

Antonio Conte hailed the work ethic of his ‘hardest working’ Tottenham stars after beating Manchester City and has demanded they maintain those standards.

Spurs took an early lead through Dejan Kulusevski but Ilkay Gundogan notched on 33 minutes to ensure the sides were level at the break. Harry Kane restored the visitors’ one-goal advantage just before the hour mark. But there was late drama as Riyad Mahrez scored from the penalty spot in the 92nd minute to seemingly earn City a point.

Kane then bagged his second of the game five minutes into stoppage time to silence the home faithful. The result lifts Spurs up to seventh and revives their top-four hopes.

They are four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United but have two games in hand on Ralf Rangnick’s side. The north Londoners were on a poor run of results but bounced back in sensational style.

And Conte was delighted with the way his charges managed to execute their tactics right to the end of the match.

“It was an emotional game for sure. It was an exciting game,” he told Sky Sports. “We played a good game. We followed a plan. Manchester City would keep the possession for 65 to 70 minutes for the game so we needed to be good tactically.

“But even when defending our first thought should be to attack. We created chances and scored good goals against a fantastic team.”

Spurs have been roundly criticised in recent times, with pundits questioning whether Conte is the right man for the job. There was talk of a lack of belief and the Italian feels that will now change after such a high-profile triumph.

“This win will give us more confidence. It wasn’t simple to play Manchester City after three losses in a row,” he added. “But this is a process, we are working very