Tottenham players understand Antonio Conte’s frustration at up and down form

Spurs are in the hunt for a top-four place despite an inconsistent run

Tottenham Hotspur captain Hugo Lloris says Antonio Conte’s mood swings are understandable given his side’s inconsistency, but believes they are now on the right path.

Conte has displayed a mixture of emotions in recent weeks, questioning whether he was the right man for the job after a loss at Burnley, which came four days after saying his squad was the best group he had ever worked with following a win at Manchester City.

Spurs’ inconsistency has brought about Conte’s changeable demeanour and they continued their win-loss-win-loss sequence with a comfortable 2-0 victory at Brighton on Wednesday.

Lloris says Conte is right to be frustrated, but sees positive signs after a third decent performance on the spin.

“Obviously after four months we start to know each other well. I think he’s showing a lot of passion and he’s doing his job with a lot of emotion,” he 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 provide the best from day one and they are not the kind of people who are going to give up in any circumstances.

“You are in the Premier League and you face difficulties but we – everyone, coaching staff and players – feels 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.”

The win at Brighton, coupled with Arsenal’s defeat to Liverpool, has seen Spurs re-enter the race for Champions League qualification as they sit three points behind the Gunners, who have a game in hand.

Another crunch weekend is in