Postecoglou’s side crashed to a damaging 2-1 home defeat against Wolves on Sunday (AEDT) to leave them two points behind fourth placed Aston Villa.

Stream Over 50 Sports Live & On-Demand with Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

Villa’s 2-1 win at Fulham lifted them above Tottenham, who struggled in the absence of injured full-backs Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie.

Tottenham had returned to fourth position with a last-gasp victory over Brighton last weekend, but their first defeat in six league games was a major setback.

Joao Gomes headed Wolves into a deserved lead after 42 minutes. Dejan Kulusevski levelled 34 seconds after the restart for Tottenham, only for Gomes to grab his second after an excellent solo run by Pedro Neto in the 63rd minute.

Tottenham have failed to score in the first half of their last five home matches and Postecoglou said the only solution to their issues was to knuckle down on the training ground.

“We will work hard, we’ve got two weeks to prepare for our next game (against Crystal Palace) and there’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves,” he said.

“You take the blows and you’ve got to move on irrespective of what’s happened in the past. You’ve got to make sure you’re ready for the next game.

“There’s no tricks, it’s hard work. I’m not a magician, I’m a football manager. It’s hard work which these guys have done all year.

“Like I said, we’ve got to this point which is pretty decent on the back of some hard work and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”

On the other side of the coin, Premier League leaders Liverpool continued on their merry way with a dominant 4-1 victory over Brentford.

While Arsenal demolished Burnley 5-0 to keep up the pressure in the title race.

Mohamed Salah came off the bench to replace the injured Diogo Jota in his first Liverpool appearance since their win over Newcastle on New Year’s Day.

Having returned from the hamstring injury he sustained on Egypt duty at the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah made up for lost time with his first goal for the Reds since the Newcastle game.

EPL SCORES

Arsenal def. Burnley 5-0

Liverpool def. Brentford 4-1

Newcastle drew with Bournemouth 2-2

Aston Villa def. Fulham 2-1

Nottingham Forest def. West Ham 2-0

Wolves def. Tottenham 2-1

Manchester City drew with Chelsea 1-1