Spurs 'feel the blood' of top-four rivals: Conte

North London club capitalise on Arsenal, Man Utd slip-ups with 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa

LONDON:

Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte said his team could "feel the blood" of their rivals and capitalised on their slips as the north London club tightened their grip on the fourth place in the Premier League with a 4-0 win at Aston Villa.

Son Heung-min's hat-trick on Saturday helped Tottenham open a three-point lead over rivals Arsenal, with Conte's team fourth in the league on 57 points after 31 matches. Arsenal are fifth on 54 points, having played one matchless.

Manchester United's defeat at Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers' defeat at Newcastle United also helped Tottenham strengthen their grip on the fourth spot.

Conte said he was pleased with the attitude and composure of his players who dealt with pressure in the first half against Villa before sealing the victory in the second half with a counter-attacking performance.

"It was a great win for us, especially coming after your rivals have played and lost: Wolverhampton, Manchester United and Arsenal," Conte said.

"In this moment you start to feel the blood. It is important in this moment not to fail. We are working a lot on the mentality and the players are giving me satisfaction.

"At the same time, I know we have to work on this improvement. Because there are not only the tactical, technical and physical aspects but there is the mentality. There is a lot of space for improvement."

Tottenham next host 11th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion on April 16.

Tuchel praises Chelsea spirit

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel praised his side's determination to "turn things around" after they finished a tough week by hammering Southampton 6-0 on Saturday.

Timo Werner hit the woodwork three times but still scored twice as Chelsea returned to winning ways after a 4-1 defeat against Brentford and a 3-1 loss in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.

Mason Mount also scored twice, with Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz finding the net too.

Chelsea were 4-0 up after just half an hour and scored a further two goals within 10 minutes of the re-start, coasting for the rest of the contest at St Mary's Stadium.

Their fourth win in five Premier League matches inched the Blues ever closer to a third-place finish.

"It was a very good performance and a well-deserved win," Tuchel told Sky Sports. "It is a tough stadium to come to but we made it look easy.

"In possession we were very focused so it's a very good performance and an excellent result.

"Straight away we looked focused and determined to turn things around. We were hungry in challenges and we were always dangerous. We created a lot of chances to decide the match very early."

But Tuchel said that despite this result, overturning the deficit against 13-time European champions Real Madrid on Tuesday would be tough.

"First of all it was necessary to do the job here," he told the BBC. "That will be a very difficult task and there is no change to it. We did what we wanted and that is the good news."