Antonio Conte urged Tottenham to enjoy the pressure of the Premier League's top-four race as he claimed his side did not expect to be in contention back in November.
Nuno Espirito Santo lasted just four months in charge of Spurs before his dismissal on November 1, with the north London club eighth in the Premier League, 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.
Conte, who departed Inter after guiding the Nerazzurri to the Scudetto last season, replaced the Portuguese coach and became the first Spurs manager to go unbeaten in his first eight league games.
However, Spurs' form nosedived in February, with Conte losing four of five top-flight games for just the third time in his managerial career.
That led to questions over Tottenham's credentials for Champions League qualification, but slip-ups by Arsenal in April allowed Spurs to temporarily occupy fourth place, even if they could not fully capitalise.
Spurs lost against Brighton and Hove Albion after Arsenal were defeated by Southampton, before being held by Brentford as they dropped further ground in the top-four race.
Across those two games, Tottenham failed to register a single shot on target but responded with a 3-1 win over Leicester City in their most recent game, keeping them two points behind Arsenal with four games to play.
Conte acknowledged his side must deal with the pressure as they head towards the crunch period of the season, with a meeting against Mikel Arteta's side coming in the penultimate week of the campaign.
"It can happen in one or two games in a row, you can struggle," the Italian told reporters. "It can happen for many reasons. Maybe sometimes the pressure starts to become strong and you need to be used to this sort of pressure.
"Before these two games against Brighton and Brentford, we were behind the others but when we reached fourth place and we tried to defend this position, we have these strange performances.
"But I think that this team and group of players are improving every aspect and also at dealing with the pressure.
"I think that we have to enjoy this time and this race. I repeat it was very hard to predict at the start of the season and November that Tottenham could compete for the Champions League.
"We have to enjoy with the right pressure and try to have a game for our fans and the people that watch the game."
Conte's side next visit Liverpool on Saturday at Anfield, where the Reds have lost just one of their last 27 Premier League games against Spurs.
However, Tottenham are the top scorers across their last 16 top-flight games, albeit they have either scored multiple goals (in 11 matches) or failed to find the net (five matches) in that period.
"I think that since November until now, you can see the stats, they’ve improved a lot since November," Conte added. "The goals we scored, the goals we conceded, the chances we created.
"It happened in the last two games against Brighton and Brentford that we weren't able to score. But I think in every game we create a lot of chances and score a lot of goals and the fans see us play football.
"I think the game against Liverpool will be interesting. We play a game face to face against a team that likes to be offensive, and we like to be offensive."
Asked whether Spurs fare better against bigger teams due to the space for Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to counter, Conte responded: "No. I can tell you that we played Chelsea four times this season and we lost four times.
"This comparison is not right. We lost four times to Chelsea and they are on the level of Man United, Man City and Liverpool. I think this is not the reason.
"For sure, when you play against [bigger] teams the pressure is very high but at the same time you enjoy this type of game because you play against a really strong team.
"And in these types of games you can also make an evaluation about your level and progress you made in these months.
"I think in this aspect it will be important not only to get points but to understand our level and the level we have reached, in these types of games and against these types of monsters."
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolves: Bellegarde beauty earns visitors first point
Wolves earned their first point of the Premier League season following a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Chris Wood's towering header was cancelled out by Jean-Ricner Bellegarde's stunning strike as the spoils were shared at the City Ground.
The hosts took the lead in the 10th minute as Wood rose to nod home from Elliot Anderson's corner.
However, the visitors were level just two minutes later in spectacular fashion, with Bellegarde firing a stunning long-range volley into the roof of the net.
Gary O'Neil's side had Sam Johnstone to thank after the break, with the debutant producing a strong hand to deny Wood his second goal of the game.
Matheus Cunha curled a shot just wide while the offside flag denied Wood later on, with Forest unable to snatch victory but extending their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Data Debrief: Wolves end losing streak while Wood matches Collymore
After opening the season with two defeats and eight goals conceded, Wolves stopped the rot with a welcome point against their Midlands rivals, while ending a five-game Premier League losing streak in the process.
Meanwhile, Forest remain unbeaten in their opening three games of a top-flight season for the first time since 1995-96.
Heading his side into the lead, Wood became only the second Forest player to score in both their first two home matches in a Premier League season since Stan Collymore 30 years previously.
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