Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino insisted his team are “still fighting” for the title following their 1-0 defeat at West Ham.
Manuel Lanzini’s second-half goal gave West Ham a crucial victory and left Chelsea two wins away from sealing the Premier League title.
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.
But Pochettino told Sky Sports: “We are still fighting. It is disappointing to lose this game and now it’s waiting for Chelsea’s result and then the three games ahead.
“Now it’s more difficult to catch Chelsea but we need to try always.”
He added: “We dominated in the first half and were the better team, but at the start of the second half we were a bit sloppy and when you are fighting for the title you must not concede this type of goal.
“Then it was difficult to find space and they defended deeper. I think we were unlucky and didn’t deserve to lose, but we lost and it is true that this was a difficult game.”
Spurs’ Eric Dier, however, virtually conceded defeat in the title race after his team’s loss.
“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 said.
“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.”