Erik Lamela Opens Up on Spurs' Title Hopes and His Own Relationship With Mauricio Pochettino

Erik Lamela has admitted that Tottenham Hotspur cannot afford to drop anymore points if they are to challenge for the Premier League title this season. 

Since overcoming their Old Trafford hoodoo earlier this month, Spurs have fallen to successive 2-1 defeats either side of the international break to Watford and Liverpool respectively - following those up with a third consecutive 2-1 defeat against Inter. 

Although the Premier League season is just a month old, Lamela has urged his side to put together a winning run to prevent them from falling further behind the leading pack, a gap which now sits at six points.

"If we want to fight for the title, [we] can't lose anymore points," admitted Lamela at a recent FIFA 19 launch event, as reported by ESPN. "We have to start winning and win some games in a row to keep focus on the title, on everything."

Lamela was on target in the defeat to Liverpool and Pochettino rewarded his countryman with his first start of the season in the Champions League defeat away to Inter on Tuesday.

However, with that in the past, Lamela and his Spurs teammates now have to shift the focus onto Saturday's encounter with Brighton - another potentially tricky affair for a team who appear to be short of confidence.

Lamela, a big money signing from AS Roma in 2013, struggled in his first couple of seasons in north London, even appearing to be surplus to requirements at one stage, but has burst back into life under countryman Mauricio Pochettino. 

"The first year I was here, he helped me because my English wasn't very good," Lamela told ESPN. "It was important for me to have a manager speaking Spanish, and other South American players because there are many young players in the team who also speak Spanish.

"But, in the end, my relationship with him is like the one he has with my other teammates, it is the same for all of us."