Tottenham must park title ambitions and focus on staying in the top four, says captain Hugo Lloris

Hugo Lloris says Tottenham must forget about chasing runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City and focus on staying in the top four.

Their north London derby defeat to rivals Arsenal at the weekend left further questions over Spurs’ ability to compete away at top six rivals, having won just one in 17 under Mauricio Pochettino, and has them 11 points off the top.

Having been the closest title challengers in the last two seasons, Spurs fans have ambitions of the title. Lloris, however, insists they must take it step-by-step and focus first on remaining in the top four.

“Before we think about City it’s important to stay in the top four. This is the main target for our team,” the Spurs captain said.

“We heard from outside that Tottenham play for the title, blah, blah, blah. The most important thing is to stay consistent in the League.

“We have been in the top four the last two years and we need to carry on, to settle the club in this position and try to get more experience because the team is still young, then reduce the gap with the best.

“Obviously the future for Tottenham will be bright if we keep the same mentality. It’s our ambition, but step by step.

“It’s true that we wanted to do more against Manchester United and Arsenal. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that so now it’s important to have a run of victories because we need to keep our place at the top.”