Swansea City coach Alan Curtis insists his team can pick up points at Arsenal on Wednesday – despite the trauma of losing another lead in their 2-1 defeat at title-chasing Tottenham.
The Swans went ahead through a first goal for new striker Alberto Paloschi, but succumbed after huge pressure to concede twice in the second-half.
An equaliser for Nacer Chadli was quickly followed by Danny Rose’s winner – meaning Swansea have now dropped 14 points from winning positions this season.
In the five matches since Francesco Guidolin took over as head coach, his team have been ahead in three of them – against West Brom, Crystal Palace and now Spurs – only to fail to hold on for the win.
They remain three points above the relegation zone, thanks to the weekend failings of their basement Premier League rivals – a fact conceded by Curtis, who stood in for sickly Guidolin at the post-match press conference.
Curtis said: “We can take some solace from the way we defended and while it’s disappointing to lose, we need to take that same spirit into Wednesday.
“We worked our socks off and if we can show the same fight it will stand us in good stead.
“Results went well for us at the weekend and it would have been a bonus to have picked something up so we have to move on.
“It’s another tough game at Arsenal and we could do Tottenham a favour but we have to look after ourselves.”
“The entire team defended well – but we had to. I knew Spurs were a good side but seeing them up close you can see their pace, power and technical ability.
“We knew it was going to be tough and getting the goal gave us something to hang onto but we needed a second really because you can sense the belief in the Spurs side and crowd they could come back.
Alberto Paloschi goal celebration.
“Lukasz Fabianski was fantastic and made some great saves, some were world class but we kept being forced back by waves and waves of attacks because they are so difficult to play against.
“It wasn’t a plan to play like that but there is only so much you can do sometimes. You think sometimes it is going to be your day but they got their goals.
“We made changes when we were chasing the game but if we’d made them earlier it probably wouldn’t have made a difference because they kept coming and coming. On the day they were too good for us.”
Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino said: “Fabianski was great. He was man of the match. Sometimes football is difficult. You play well but find it hard to score. The good thing is that the team fight. It is a fantastic win.
“Our mentality is to look to the next game and go step by step. Now we need to focus again. We have a strong squad and we will try to manage it in the right way.”
