Tottenham boss Antonio Conte admits a poor start cost his team as they went down 2-0 to Arsenal at home on Sunday.
A Hugo Lloris own goal and Martin Odegaard's drive saw the Gunners win.
Conte lamented: "It was difficult to come back after we conceded two goals. When we conceded the first, we had the possibility to level the game with Sonny and the keeper made a fantastic save. Then they scored the second goal. It could have killed everybody, but not my players as in the second half we tried with a big effort to score and create problems for Arsenal.
"The keeper made fantastic saves today. Arsenal is a difficult opponent now, like Man City. Both teams are going to contend for the Premier League title.
"We played against a strong team but at the same time I've not got great disappointment for the commitment of my players. They showed great will and desire to try and come back. Sometimes in the past we did, but today their keeper was really good.
"Arsenal showed to be a really good team. It wasn't easy for them to play against us in this atmosphere but they have a great balance and suffer in the right moments. They showed great resilience in the second half.
“When a team does this, it means they are ready to fight to win the title with Man City. They are the only two teams who can fight for the Premier League this season."
On Tottenham's top-four chances, he added: “We have to continue to work really hard and we will see our position at the end of the season. Be it Champions League or Europa League. Teams like Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United, Newcastle, also Brighton and Brentford. It is really difficult because every team can spend money and even the middle or lower teams have international players."