Lloris praises team mentality after Spurs reducing gap to Chelsea

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has praised his team’s ‘strong mentality’ after hard-fought victory against Burnley to reduce the gap to leaders Chelsea to seven points, the club website reports.

Spurs recovered in the second half after injuries to Victor Wanyama and Harry Winks, with Eric Dyer opening the scored in the 66^th minute before Son Heung-Min gifted his team the valuable three points ten minutes later.

“We showed again how strong we are,” Lloris said. “This was more about mentality, especially after losing two players in the first half and playing a tough game away after an international break.”

Lloris’ France lost to Spain in a friendly match on Wednesday.

“It showed everyone is ready – ready to fight, to help the team. It was a very strong team performance. It wasn’t fantastic but very solid, very concentrated, we stopped a lot of crosses, won a lot of second balls and that was key against Burnley.

“We showed a lot of maturity because even after the first half, we stayed calm, we stayed concentrated individually and as a team. We kept going in the same way until the end. We can congratulate all the players because mentally we were very strong.”

Lloris has kept 11 clean sheets so far this season and sits joint-second along with David De Gea. Only Chelsea’s Thibaut Courtious has kept more clean sheets – 13 – but Spurs have let in two less goals than the Premier League leaders. And Lloris believes the team spirit is just right to keep the fight going until the end of the season.

“Every point can make a difference and we just need to stay focused.” he said.

Spurs travel to face Swansey in two days time in bid to reduce the deficit further while Chelsea face a more difficult task in Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.