Antonio Conte said there was no way back for Tottenham after Emerson Royal was sent off in the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on Saturday.
The Gunners were tremendous in the north London derby, with Granit Xhaka once again putting in a top drawer performance.
Shortly into the second half, with the score at 1-1, Gabriel Jesus poked home from less than a yard out following an error from Hugo Lloris.
Royal was then given his marching orders for a high tackle on Gabriel Martinelli, with Xhaka netting soon after to seal the three points for the hosts.
Conte believes it was a close opening 45 minutes before the red card handed Arsenal the win.
“I think the first half was in the balance,” Conte told BT Sport. “We had many chances to score. We made a big mistake with the last pass because we had great space.
“In the second half we conceded a second goal early and we could do much better.
“With the red card, [went] the game. It was a really difficult game after that. We had to change totally then. It was the referee’s decision and I don’t want to comment.”
The Italian head coach then said it was “difficult” for his players to put in a cohesive performance after his players all returned at different times following the international break.
“We had the opportunity to exploit much better and stay up and I repeat that I think we made big mistakes in the last pass and with easy passes but it happens and straight after the national team it is a bit difficult because players arrive at a different time,” he continued.
“Now we have to move on but we know our role in this league and we have to try and do our best to stay close to the other teams at the top. I tried to give minutes to players because the game had ended and also to try and save energy.
“I wanted to give players time especially [Oliver] Skipp and [Matt] Doherty because we need the whole squad because we have many games in front of us in a short period.”
Spurs defender Eric Dier is obviously disappointed but knows there is a lot of football still to be played this season.
“They started better in both halves, and scored a good goal from outside the box,” he said. “After that we were much better, got to 1-1 but lacked quality in the final pass.
“Same again in the second half. We didn’t start well, conceded a poor goal after the sending off and it was difficult.
“It was 2-1 at that point and they scored straight away again. We couldn’t really organise ourselves before they got…
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