Tottenham Hotspur match-winner Son Heung-min insists his team tried to ignore their rivals results despite learning of defeats for Arsenal and Manchester United before their win at Aston Villa.
Spurs survived a tough first half against Villa, with Steven Gerrard's side peppering Hugo Lloris with shots after Son put the visitors in front. However, after the break the visitors turned the screw with the former Bayer Leverkusen forward completing his hat-trick and Dejan Kulusevski also on target.
With Arsenal losing at home to Brighton & Hove Albion earlier in the day, Spurs were able to steal a march in the race for fourth. And that was after Manchester United's defeat at Everton set Conte's side up for what would end up being a perfect day.
"We knew about the other results of Arsenal and Manchester United - when we did the warm-up the fans were celebrating so we knew but we don't want to focus on that result," Son told Match of the Day. They are playing their game and we're playing ours so we don't want to focus on other teams because it's different.
"We're in different situations, we have to focus on our performances and be calm, cool and we did that today," the South Korea international continued. The win leaves Spurs three points clear of Arsenal, with a superior goal difference, though the teams still have to meet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Son also praised goalkeeper Lloris for helping keep the team in front, saying: "Without Hugo we were probably 3-1 down in the first half. "Hugo saved us today and it was a big performance from our captain when we needed him and he turned up saving every ball. He was unbelievable."
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Son was already Tottenham's top league goalscorer before the game at Villa Park, but is now in second place on his own in the Premier League golden boot race. Mohamed Salah leads the way on 20, with the Spurs man moving onto 17 and Diogo Jota third with 14.
He needs just one more goal to make this his best ever domestic league tally in any country, set just last season. His best return for goals in all competitions, also set last term, is 22 from 51 appearances.
Defeat for Villa means Gerrard's men missed the chance to move back into the top half of the Premier League table. Indeed, they fell a place to 12th, dropping behind Brighton after Graham Potter's side won at the Emirates Stadium.
