Tottenham's risk of being relegated from the Premier League continues to grow after a draw with Brighton ensured their stay in the bottom three for another week.
Spurs put on one of their better performances of the last few weeks and looked set to claim all three points after goals from Pedro Porro and Xavi Simons, however, equalisers from Kaoru Mitoma and Georginio Rutter meant the points were shared.
The North London side have now gone 15 games without a win and are still looking for their first league victory of 2026.
However, Roberto De Zerbi remained confident of his team's survival hopes and insisted they have the quality to pull through.
"Brighton is a very good team. In this moment, they are playing very well, but I think we deserved to win the game, " said the Italian manager.
"I'm very proud for the performance of my players. I'm very proud because they gave all of them their best, with the right mentality, with the right blood, with the right character.
"And I'm disappointed just for the result, for my players and for the fans, because it was an incredible atmosphere today.
"It is tough. Every one of us knows it is a tough moment, it is a difficult situation, but we have another five games and 15 points.
"This team is able to win five games in a row. Now it is difficult to hear my words, but if you watch the players and analyse the level of the players, I think we can win five games in a row."
Despite the disappointing result, Tottenham did put on a promising performance, spearheaded by Simons, who assisted the opener before scoring the second.
"He played very well, a great game, " said the Spurs boss.
"I think he can play better and better, because a player like this, he needs to feel confidence from the manager.
"I think I'm lucky to have this player on my team, but also he's lucky because with number 10, I can understand better than other coaches."
De Zerbi will be hoping for more performances like today's from the Dutch midfielder if Tottenham are to escape this relegation battle.