Ange Postecoglou literally laughs off 'worry' about facing Arsenal & Man City

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has insisted he does not fear having to face Premier League title challengers Arsenal and Manchester City in the next few weeks.

Postecoglou's Spurs were deservedly thrashed 4-0 by Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon and dropped out of the top four on goal difference as a result. They were due to face City next weekend, but they are in FA Cup semi-final action and so this has been rescheduled until the final week of the season.

This means Spurs have two weeks off until their next game, which comes against north London rivals Arsenal back at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

In his press conference following Saturday's humbling at St James' Park, Postecoglou was asked if he was worried about the prospect of facing the two title rivals off the back of such a poor performance.

"No! No, no...no," Postecoglou replied while laughing.

When asked to explain why he thought Tottenham lost in such a manner, Postecoglou said: "Newcastle were good, credit to them, I thought they were really good today. We just didn't really get a grip of the game at all. Right from the start it felt like we allowed Newcastle to dictate the way the game was played, we never really wrestled control at any stage. We paid a price for that."

He added: "As I said, we allowed them to dictate the way the game was played, ended up being a transition game, a lot of it was self-inflicted by us, we weren't brave on the ball, we've been really good this year at understanding that when we have the ball we can be a threat, certain players, we just shied away from that today. When you do that you allow the game to be played on Newcastle's terms. When that happens especially away from home it’s hard for us to then claw it back once it’s got away from us.

"I was concerned with all of it. I don't think there was one area that cost us today. I don't think there was any part of our game that reached the levels that it needs to for us to be able to play the games on our terms, so whether that's the physical aspect, the technical, the tactical, all of it, we just never really got to any sort of tempo or intensity that we needed to, to stop a team that's got momentum right from the start."

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