Ryan Mason paid tribute to the collective after Tottenham claimed a first clean sheet in the Premier League since February.
Harry Kane’s first-half header, his 28th goal of the season, earned Spurs a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday that kept them in the hunt for a top-six finish.
Kane moved ahead of Wayne Rooney into second on the all-time Premier League goal-scorer list with his 209th top-flight strike but it was the other end of the pitch where Tottenham’s improvement was noticeable.
After conceding six at Newcastle and four at Liverpool during the last two weekends, Mason used his full week on the training pitch to tweak the 3-4-3 system used for the best part of 18 months since Antonio Conte took over.
Spurs went with a back four out of possession and it worked to good effect after Palace were limited to minimal chances with the hosts able to register a first league clean sheet since February 26 versus Chelsea.
“When you keep a clean sheet, it’s a collective. It’s everyone and everyone fought for the clean sheet,” Mason said.
“The players on the pitch but also the ones who didn’t because in the training week we’ve all worked hard together and they’re the results you want.
“We understand the importance of the win and the clean sheet as well is a great response from the players because maybe mentally when you concede so many goals in a short space of time, it can have an impact but the players have worked hard.
“The whole squad has worked hard on the training pitch. We’ve had a bit of time together to try and influence things and they responded. I thought it was a cagey game but overall we deserved the three points.”
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Spurs have spent the whole of this season using a 3-4-3 system but Cristian Stellini, who stepped up from assistant to replace Conte, went with a back four at Newcastle last month.
It ended up having disastrous consequences with Tottenham 5-0 down inside 21 minutes and Stellini ultimately losing his job as acting head coach as a result.
Mason hinted upon taking charge it would be hard for him to make changes for the Manchester United and Liverpool fixtures, but after a week on the training ground reverted to a back four, which he used in his previous caretaker spell in 2021.
He added: “We added a sixth man into the press and tried to be a bit more aggressive.
“I have to compliment the players because when you’ve been working in a certain way for so long, to make that change at this stage of the season it’s very positive for me.”
Roy Hodgson, who watched Crystal Palace lose for only a second time since his return, acknowledged the respect Spurs had given the visitors with their formation.
“I saw us on the ball for large periods of the game and I saw us attempting to get into the right areas,” he said.
“We didn’t have the success we had last week (against West Ham) or the weeks before, but that’s a credit to Tottenham deciding to defend as they did against us.
“It’s never easy to find that bit of space when there are a lot of players in and around the box.”
Jorginho: Arsenal players laughing at Haaland form for Man City
Jorginho has said the form of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland is making him and his Arsenal team-mates laugh ahead of next weekend's meeting.
Haaland netted two more goals for City in Saturday's 2-1 comeback win over Brentford at the Etihad Stadium to maintain his side's perfect start.
That took the striker to nine goals across City's first four Premier League games this season - the most any player has scored in the competition's history at this stage.
Arsenal are the next side tasked with attempting to keep Haaland quiet in next weekend's showdown between the division's top-two sides.
Despite Haaland's superb form to begin the campaign, Jorginho insists Arsenal are unfazed heading into Sunday's battle in Manchester.
"Erling scoring again... it is starting to make us laugh," he said. "We look because we watch all the games and we love the Premier League.
"We watch [City] as well, which is normal. It doesn't get to our head. We need to focus on us and that is what we are trying to do."
Last season's runners-up Arsenal are two points behind early pacesetters City after winning three and drawing one of their opening four matches.
Mikel Arteta's men managed to grind out a 1-0 win in their North London derby with Tottenham at the weekend thanks to a Gabriel header.
Arsenal were without key midfield pair Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard, owing to suspension and injury respectively, but still got the job done.
"You learn more about each other," said Jorginho, who replaced Rice in midfield. "Everyone wants to improve and wants the best for the team.
"When you put the team in first place I think just good things can happen. Keep believing in what you are doing. I think we are on the right way."
Arsenal travel to Atalanta for their opening Champions League game on Thursday, but one eye is undoubtedly on the trip to City three days later.
"If you want to achieve big things you need to have the mentality of trying to win every single game," Jorginho said.
"That is what we need to do and that is what we want to do. That is what we are trying to do. You need to keep in this way.
"Keep believing in what you're doing. We are believing in what we are doing and we keep working hard to improve on what we need to improve."
Frank aims to 'find solutions' after being dealt Wissa injury update
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank confirmed striker Yoane Wissa will be sidelined for "a couple of months" after picking up an ankle injury against Manchester City.
Wissa, who netted the fastest ever goal that Brentford have scored in the Premier League against the champions on Saturday, hobbled off in first half injury time.
The DR Congo international was on the receiving end of a heavy challenge by City midfielder Mateo Kovacic and is expected to return to action in November.
It serves as a significant blow for Frank, with Wissa having been directly involved in 10 goals across his last nine appearances in the top-flight for the Bees.
"Wissa is, unfortunately, not good news - it looks like an injury that will be a couple of months," Frank said.
"It's very frustrating. We talked about our many injuries last year - I hope I don't have to talk too much about it this year. I maybe already have.
"We were unlucky with Igor [Thiago], unlucky with [Aaron] Hickey. We've then had two contact injuries with Mathias Jensen and Yoane Wissa, so that's very frustrating.
"But that's part of football - we move on and we will find solutions."
Following the departure of Ivan Toney to Al-Ahli during the transfer window, Wissa has stepped up with three goals in the Brentford's four Premier League games.
The 28-year-old has outperformed his expected goals (xG) tally by 0.57 so far this term, while his four chances created is a total only bettered by Mathias Jensen (six) and Bryan Mbeumo (10) in the Brentford squad.
But with striker and record signing Igor Thiago also out injured and not expected to return until the end of the year, Frank acknowledged the enormity of the gap he needed to fill in Wissa's absence.
"Everybody was saying we bought Igor Thiago to replace Ivan [Toney] - but we still had Wissa," Frank concluded.
"We bought Igor Thiago to build the squad and provide competition in the squad.
"Wissa had a very good season last year and I thought he has started the season very well this year, with three goals in four games - that's a very good number.
"He's just been very important for us and that's going to leave a hole. But, again, I will find a solution."
Premier League MD4: Lucky winners and unlucky losers
The Premier League is back after the international break, with plenty more thrills and spills to keep everyone entertained.
Manchester United got back to winning ways with a sweeping 3-0 win over Southampton, while Nottingham Forest stunned Liverpool at Anfield.
Manchester City continued their perfect start with a comeback win over Brentford, and on Sunday Arsenal claimed bragging rights in the North London derby.
But who were the lucky winners and the unlucky losers to emerge from this weekend's set of fixtures, according to the underlying metrics?
With the help of Opta data, let's find out.
Lucky winners: Nottingham Forest
Liverpool had made a perfect start to life under Arne Slot and were yet to concede a goal heading into matchday 4, but after a two-week break, things were not quite as rosy.
The Tricky Trees had faced 26 strikes before Callum Hudson-Odoi's long-range effort curled beyond Alisson, ending a 55-year wait for a Forest win at Anfield.
Forest managed just five shots in the game, creating an expected goals (xG) of 0.44, with Hudson-Odoi's strike only contributing 0.07 to that. They also managed just five touches in the opposition box.
Liverpool may not have been at their high-flying best, but they had 34 touches in the opposition area and had 14 attempts on Forest's goal but could not find a way through a well-drilled Nuno Espirito Santo side as Slot got his first taste of defeat in the job.
Unlucky losers: Brighton
Technically, Brighton were not 'losers' as they continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 0-0 draw with Ipswich Town.
But based on the metrics, they were unlucky not to come away with three points against the newly promoted side.
The Seagulls had a whopping 21 shots at the Amex Stadium, but accumulated just 1.66 xG, and only managed to test Arijanet Muric on six occasions despite their continued dominance.
They also had three big chances, from which players would have been anticipated to do better, but Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter failed to convert them as Fabian Hurzeler's side endured a frustrating day.
Lucky winners: Arsenal
Most Arsenal fans will not care how the victory over rivals Tottenham happened, just that they came away from the visit with three points, but the Gunners were savvy in their victory.
Indeed, Arsenal's two lowest possession averages (on record) in a Premier League game against Spurs have both come in 2024, with Sunday’s match their lowest total (36.3%).
Mikel Arteta's side did create a slightly higher xG (0.74 to 0.71), but from a much lower shot count as they only had seven attempts on Spurs’ goal, with Gabriel Magalhaes’ close-range header worth 0.23 xG.
It was Arsenal's lowest xG of the season so far (0.87 xG on MD2 is second), but their clinical edge proved the difference against a wasteful Spurs.
Unlucky losers: Fulham
Like Brighton, Fulham do not class as losers as they drew 1-1 with West Ham, but Marco Silva will be disappointed to have let the three points slip from their grasp.
Raul Jimenez's goal looked to have earned them a second win of the season until Danny Ings' clinical finish denied them.
Fulham were another of the teams to have 21 shots this weekend, the joint-most along with the Seagulls, though their 1.54 xG came in slightly lower, despite creating four big chances, of which they squandered three.
West Ham had only accumulated 0.52 xG until Ings' intervention, pushing it up to 0.76 with their third and last shot on target, condemning the Cottagers to a second consecutive draw.
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