Tottenham’s Eric Dier admitted the title race is as good as over following his team’s 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
Second-placed Spurs’ loss at the London Stadium ended their nine-match winning run and left leaders Chelsea two wins away from being crowned champions.
Manuel Lanzini’s second-half goal gave West Ham a crucial victory and Dier conceded that Chelsea are now all but home and dry.
A win for Chelsea at Middlesbrough on Monday would put them seven points clear at the top and a win against West Brom next Friday would then clinch the title.
“It was already going to be hard before and now it’s even harder. That’s all I can say really. We know it,” Dier told Sky Sports.
“It’s disappointing really because we’ve been on a fantastic run, but they made it hard for us, played very deep, and we didn’t create enough chances.
“It’s very disappointing. We knew it was going to be tough a long time ago but we managed to bring it back to four points and after today it’s nearly impossible, but we’ll give it everything for these three games now.”