Tottenham's Champions League hopes are slipping away after Antonio Conte's side suffered a 3-2 defeat to Man United on Saturday.
The tie was a crucial game in the battle for a top four spot and both teams needed the three points, but it was Ralf Rangnick's side who came out on top.
Spurs were able to equalise after falling behind on two occasions to Cristiano Ronaldo strikes, and had chances to go on and win it, but as has been seen too many times this season, they failed secure any points from the fixture, with Ronaldo bagging his hat-trick.
After the rest of the weekend fixtures, the Lilywhites now sit in eighth place and are six points behind fourth placed Arsenal.
After the fixture at Old Trafford, Conte was asked if he believed it was a missed opportunity in the top four race.
"For sure we miss an opportunity because I always say in England there are four teams in my opinion - City, United, Chelsea, Liverpool - that unless something goes wrong, otherwise in this moment the top four are these four clubs in my opinion," he admitted in his post match press conference. "But it can happen as last season Liverpool struggled until the end for a place in the Champions League.
"In this season United are struggling, and in this case, in this moment, there are three or four teams including Tottenham that we have to stay very close, fight."
Despite the chance of getting an important three points being missed on Saturday, the Italian hasn't given up his hopes of securing a Champions League spot for next season.
"I'm the first to tell that if you want to be competitive, if you want to improve your level you have to try, to work a lot. At this moment the team needs to work a lot on many aspects," Conte explained.
"Our ambition has to be to stay very close to the top four.
"I want to take this responsibility because we are working a lot and I am seeing a lot of improvement. We need a target to give us emotion, to give us the possibility to push ourselves," the 52-year-old added.
The Spurs boss has reiterated a number of points since his arrival in N17, back in November. Conte has stressed the importance of time and patience, the work that needs to be done and backing that he needs to help his side make the step-up.
Improvements have been seen on and off this pitch and individual players have been quick to praise their new boss but one key issue still remains - inconsistency.
Apart from one instance where they lost two games in a row (to Southampton and Wolves), Tottenham's 2022 results have followed a perfect win and then loss pattern.
Managing to beat the likes of Man City you would think would give the Spurs squad a boost and some momentum going into their next game against Burnley, but it was the opposite and the trip to Turf Moor ended in a 1-0 defeat.
Therefore after the 5-0 victory over Everton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday, it maybe wasn't so much of a surprise when the Lilywhites lost at Old Trafford just five days later.
However, for a side that is battling for a spot in the top four, it's just not good enough.
The teams competing alongside Spurs for a Champions League spot have all also had their rough patches this season, which gave Tottenham even more of a chance to leap in front, but they failed to do so.
Conte reiterated this point after Saturday's game and highlighted the issue isn't a new one.
"We have to be stable, to be stable and to keep good results in every moment. Instead we are doing up and down, up and down," he admitted.
The 52-year-old explained what needs to happen at the north London club to find this needed success, after the 5-0 victory over Frank Lampard's side.
"Tottenham’s story is this, many ups and downs, but to be competitive, to try to win something, to try to fight for something important and become a strong team, the first thing that has to happen is to be stable and avoid these ups and downs" he said.
The Lilywhites will finish another season without silverware, despite chances to lift a trophy on a number of occasions during the 14 year drought.
Lack of silverware is one aspect of the inconsistency but even in the league this season, stringing together a winning streak just doesn't seem to happen.
With no cup competition hopes left for Spurs in this campaign, they can solely focus on the league, with just 11 games to go.
If Tottenham continue this bad trend they have done since the start of 2022 then they will win just six more matches, earning them 18 more points.
As the current table stands, that would take them to third place but realistically, that just won't be sufficient enough to earn them a top four spot.
Spurs are six points behind their north London rivals with a game in hand and if they can now go on a winning run, they could still have a chance of earning a spot in the Champions League next season.
It may seem out of reach but if the Lilywhites were able to finish fourth, it would be a decent end to the season after the rollercoaster it has been and will make Tottenham seem more attractive when Fabio Paratici begins targeting players for the summer transfer window.
