Caretaker boss Ryan Mason denied managerless Tottenham are drifting after a potentially damaging 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.
Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz struck to move Villa level on points in the Premier League with their sixth-placed visitors.
Harry Kane’s late penalty gave the scoreline a flattering look as aimless Spurs were second best throughout.
Mason, Spurs’ third manager of the season, is now battling to keep them in the European spots.
They are without a head coach and sporting director after the departures of Antonio Conte, Cristian Stellini and Fabio Paratici but Mason insisted the club is still fighting.
He said: “The outside world is the outside world. When you are consistent and strong inside that transfers outside. It is a difficult moment but everyone is pulling together.
“The environment you try to set within is the most important thing.
“To go a goal down so early again, it’s happened too many times this season. We need to be better. It’s a very disappointing day.
“I felt we were more of a threat in the second half and their keeper has pulled off an outstanding save at 1-0 which could have changed the flow of the game.
“We understand we have two important games and it’s still in our hands, what we want to achieve, we need to learn and try to be better.
“We’ve come here against a good side and you have to understand you have to suffer as a team and then the game changes, like we saw in the second half, but you can’t get to that point being a goal down.”
Ramsey opened the scoring after just eight minutes, finding the corner from Leon Bailey’s cross, as Villa dominated.
Tottenham were dreadful and needed Fraser Forster to keep it at 1-0 when he saved from Bailey after Pedro Porro’s mistake.
Emi Buendia hit the bar before the break and was denied by Forster following the restart, with John McGinn shooting wide.
But Spurs were almost gifted a way back when Oliver Skipp robbed Luiz to tee up Kane only for to see his shot beaten away by Emi Martinez.
Dejan Kulusevski curled wide but Villa found some daylight with 18 minutes left when Luiz curled in a 25-yard free-kick which Forster could only help into the top corner.
It seemed like the hosts would cruise to victory but they were forced to sweat in stoppage time when Kane went down under Martinez’s challenge and – after a long VAR delay – referee Peter Bankes awarded the penalty which the England captain scored.
Villa remain in the hunt for a Europa League spot, although boss Unai Emery admitted he did not think it was achievable when he replaced Steven Gerrard in October.
He said: “No, it was a process but I told the players if we can have chances to go there we are going to try to get it. If we didn’t get it, it’s not a fail. It’s a process.
“We played with a high level in the first half and kept our identity. We deserved more in the first half, maybe. Keeping focus in 90 minutes is not easy and we were playing a very good team.
“In the second half they played better but at the end we deserved to win. We want to connect with our supporters, get the energy and give them our energy and this is the sixth win in a row here.
“I was very, very happy in the first half. We need to be consistent but today we played very well and the players are showing their commitment.”
Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona: Budimir brace condemns LaLiga leaders to first defeat
Barcelona suffered their first LaLiga defeat of the season after going down 4-2 against Osasuna at Estadio El Sadar.
Ante Budimir scored twice, while Bryan Zaragoza and substitute Abel Bretones were also on target for the hosts, who claimed their first league win over the Blaugrana in nine attempts.
Osasuna were unbeaten in their six previous home league games and took an 18th-minute lead when Budimir nodded home from Zaragoza's cross.
The latter, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, doubled the advantage 10 minutes later when he rounded off a swift counter.
Pau Victor halved the deficit eight minutes after the restart, but Budimir's 72nd-minute penalty put the hosts back in control, before Bretones made it 4-1 with seven minutes remaining.
Lamine Yamal climbed off the bench to reduce Barca's arrears, but it was a consolation for Hansi Flick's side, who dropped their first points this term.
Data Debrief: Flick misses out on matching Martino
Flick was aiming to become only the second Barca manager after Gerardo Martino in 2013-14 to oversee eight straight victories at the start of a LaLiga season.
However, he and the visitors were denied by their inspired hosts, who have now recorded four successive home league wins for the first time since September 2011.
Al Kholood 2-4 Al-Hilal: Koulibaly on target as champions move to summit
Al-Hilal withstood a late Al Kholood rally to move top of the Saudi Pro League following a 4-2 victory at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium.
The damage was done during a late first-half surge by the reigning champions, who leapfrogged Al-Ittihad to the summit of the table.
Al-Hilal broke the deadlock in the 38th minute through former Napoli and Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who finished after Renan Lodi initially struck the woodwork.
Malcom doubled the lead four minutes later, then Ali Al Bulayhi made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time.
Former Atletico Madrid and Nottingham Forest defender Lodi then got in the act to make it four within three minutes of the restart.
The hosts finished the contest the stronger of the two sides with Hammam Al Hammami and a William Troost-Ekong penalty halving the deficit, but that rally could not prevent the visitors from remaining perfect after their first five games.
Data Debrief: Al-Hilal remain perfect
Al-Hilal have won each of their opening five games in a Saudi Pro League season for the third time in their history, also achieving the feat in 2010-11 and 2018-19.
Jorge Jesus' side also continued their dominant record against newly promoted clubs, having now won each of their last nine such matches.
Despite their late surge, Al Kholood suffered their third defeat of the season, though there was individual cause for celebration, as former Al-Hilal player Mohammed Jahfali came on for his 200th Saudi Pro League appearance.
Slot not entertaining title talk as Liverpool go top
Arne Slot believes it is too early to speak of his Liverpool side as title contenders after they ran out 2-1 winners at Wolves to go top of the Premier League.
Ibrahim Konate had given Slot’s men the lead on the stroke of half-time but the home side levelled soon after the restart through Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Moments later, Nathan Semedo bundled over Diogo Jota in the penalty area and Mohamed Salah made no mistake from the spot to continue his and Liverpool’s fine start to the season.
The Egyptian has now scored 10 winning goals in the competition from the spot, only bettered by Alan Shearer with 12 and Frank Lampard with 18.
Despite going top, Slot insisted it was too early to speak of his side as title contenders, with just six league games played.
He said: “It feels good, you want to be up there but it doesn’t tell me that much at the moment.
"If you look at Wolves they are down in the table but they played much better than that today. After 19 games, it’ll tell me something, but not after six."
Slot praised his opposite number Gary O’Neil for causing his side some problems early on, but once tactical adjustments were made, the Dutchman was pleased with the amount of control his side exerted.
He told Sky Sports: "I don't think we started well, but we have to give credit to Wolves and Gary O'Neil.
"They had a really good gameplan. We had some problems in the first 20 minutes, but afterwards we took control of the game.
"We were patient and kept circulating the ball and kept waiting for the right moment to bring the ball in."
Wolves’ poor run of form continues and they sit bottom of the league, with no wins to their name and just a solitary point from their first six games.
O’Neil was still proud of his players after a narrow defeat and is adamant his side have deserved more points from their opening matches than the table suggests.
"They went toe-to-toe with one of the biggest clubs in the country,” said O’Neil.
“I am gutted for the lads, with what they have given in the last six games, they deserve more points.
"The responsibility of the result... I accept that, but I also need to praise the lads for delivering performances against opposition like this.
"I know them well enough that they will feel disappointed for a day, then they will be ready to go again."
The 41-year-old, who joined the club on the eve of the 2023-24 season, admits he has no control over whether he will continue as head coach.
"I can't control other people's belief in me. All I can do is the best I can do," he said.
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