Antonio Conte admits Tottenham struggle in 'high level' matches

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Antonio Conte admits Tottenham struggle in 'high level' matches

Antonio Conte has admitted that his Tottenham side struggle in 'high level' matches and aren't ready to fight for the Premier League title.

Spurs were severely outplayed in Wednesday's 2-0 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford - a game in which they had just two shots on target.

It's not the first time they've been dominated by another member of the 'big six' this season with Arsenal claiming a 3-1 win at the start of the month and Harry Kane's 96th-minute header rescuing a rather undeserved point at Chelsea in August.

Conte said post-match that his team's performances against top opponents aren't good enough at the moment.

"For sure not a good game for us but I have to be honest and first of all, especially with my players, this was not the first time for us, despite the table being good, but every time we play a high-level game we struggle," he said.

"We struggled against Chelsea because we drew after 92 minutes but Chelsea dominated the game and with Arsenal we lost and today against United we lost.

"For sure when the level is high, we are going to struggle. This means we have to continue to work to try to improve, to work on the pitch and to work outside the pitch.

"We can improve, we need to continue to work and for sure it is right with the club also to analyse very well why when we are going to play this type of game where the level is very high we are struggling."

Those matches against Arsenal and Man Utd are the only ones Tottenham have lost in the Premier League following a strong start to the season on the whole, but Conte says they're not ready to fight for titles until they improve in big matches.

"Sometimes I listen that we are title contenders and I think we need time," he said.

"In only 10 or 11 months, you cannot go from ninth place to become the title contenders a year after, especially when you finish 20 points less than the monsters in England."