Spurs suffered under the pressure in draw with Leeds, De Zerbi concedes

Roberto De Zerbi believes his Tottenham players suffered too much under the pressure during their 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Monday.

De Zerbi watched on as his team missed the chance to pull clear of the relegation zone, with Mathys Tel having a say at either end in a mixed game for the Frenchman. 

Spurs opened the scoring in the 50th minute through Tel, who took a touch before curling a sensational strike into the top-right corner, but he conceded a penalty soon afterwards for a high foot on Ethan Ampadu, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin dispatching the resulting spot-kick.

Tel became the first Spurs player to score a goal and concede a penalty in the same Premier League game since Robbie Keane against Bolton Wanderers in February 2007. 

However, it could have been much worse for Spurs, who were indebted to goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who produced a stunning stop in second-half stoppage time to tip Sean Longstaff's shot onto the crossbar. 

Leeds' equaliser brought a sense of nervousness among the home supporters, and though De Zerbi believed his side deserved to win the match, he conceded that his team must do better in adversity in their final two league games of the season. 

"We didn't play a great game. We played a good game," De Zerbi told BBC Match of the Day.

"I think we deserved to win anyway, but maybe the pressure, the crucial game, the crucial part of the season, we suffered too much.

"Anyway, I am happy because I watched my players with the right spirit, with the right mentality. We made too many mistakes.

"If we want to win we have to reduce the mistakes, but we knew before this game it would be tough until the end of the season. It is tough for us and tough for everyone."

The result does, however, move Tottenham two points clear of West Ham, who were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal on Sunday after seeing Callum Wilson's late strike ruled out. 

The Opta supercomputer has assigned Spurs just a 18.7% chance of being relegated to the Championship, compared to West Ham's probability of 81.3%. 

"I think we have to consider the result but we have to consider the performance," De Zerbi added on the importance of gaining a point over the Hammers. 

"We played a good game, we are making points, in the last four games we made eight points.

"Congratulations to Leeds, they played a great game, they have to play the last game at West Ham and we've no doubt that they will play the same way."

For Leeds, meanwhile, their Premier League status had already been confirmed ahead of kick-off, but they did not compete like a team with nothing to play for, and could have gone ahead if not for Kinsky's smart stop to deny Joe Rodon's header. 

Daniel Farke's side are now unbeaten in their previous seven top-flight games (W3 D4), their joint-longest unbeaten run in the league this season.

With attention already turning to next season, Farke credited his team's mentality over the last few months as key to extending their stay in the Premier League. 

"We are a promoted side, so we won't win games in this league because of our quality," Farke said. "We also need a top fitness level, a top game plan.

"We need to be versatile in the tactical approach, and we can play a three-man or four-man formation, change during the game too.

"This is what you need to do. You need to show resilience, mental strength and togetherness. I can't remember apart from the Arsenal game where we were not competitive. 

"During the long season there are sometimes games that you don't win just with quality football-wise. Of course, it was a difficult game. Tottenham were highly motivated with back-to-back wins. The stadium was on it.

"For us, the big pressure was off us with the results, but it was a difficult week, we had to play without many key players and also, during the game, some setbacks."