Davies feels Spurs can arrest slump

BEN DAVIES says people want to see how Spurs will react after two defeats on the bounce and he is confident the players can ‘put it right’.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou raised eyebrows when Spurs, down to nine men, kept a high defensive line against Chelsea and ultimately fell to a 4-1 defeat.

‘That’s not what we were trying to achieve,’ said defender Davies. ‘But when you’ve got nine men, you’ll try anything and, for a period of time, that was working.

‘You just try to find a way to win. You’ve always got a chance the higher up you are.’

Spurs followed the madness against Chelsea by throwing away a lead to concede twice in stoppage time to Wolves and defeat by Aston Villa today will see Spurs drop out of the top four.

‘When you’re doing well the first sign of any sort of wobble will get people excited,’ said Davies. ‘They want to see how you react. There’s still a load of games left and it’s up to us to put it right.

‘We’re confident we can do that.

If we focus on the next game we’ll hopefully be there or thereabouts.’

Villa boss Unai Emery is anticipating a thrilling encounter.

‘I’m very motivated for (it),’ Emery said. ‘The players, as a team, I think they are as well very well motivated after the break.

‘(On Friday) morning, we were speaking about how we can focus 100 per cent on the match.’

Villa sit fifth in the table, one point behind Tottenham.

Postecoglou heaped praise on his opposite number for turning Villa into top-four contenders inside 12 months. ‘I haven’t come across him, but I have been a great admirer of his coaching,’ Postecoglou said.

‘He came over here and the experience (with Arsenal) didn’t deter him in any way. He didn’t lose any belief in who he is as a manager. He has turned Villa around very, very quickly.’