Tottenham Hotspur head coach Robert Vilahamn has admitted his disappointment with his side’s display in the north London derby defeat to Arsenal.

Tottenham’s defensive woes continued on Saturday as Alessia Russo scored in the second minute before goals from Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius helped Arsenal run away with a 3-0 victory.

The defeat at home marks a fifth loss in six Women’s Super League games for Spurs, something Vilahamn said he is “frustrated and sad” about.

“It was the same as last week. When you concede a goal in the first minute, mentally the game plan struggles. It was a different goal, but it was an early goal. It was a difficult opponent and I think we tried something different because we knew we should perhaps defend some more and get them on counter attacks.

“Self confidence is a big thing when playing and making decisions and being really sharp in duals, so when you have big games in a row where you lose by big numbers, it hurts your self confidence.”

Despite what may appear to be a very poor run of form for Tottenham, four of the five defeats have come against last season’s top four in Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and now Arsenal. Vilahamn noted he believes “that is where we are at” when asked about the run of defeats.

However, sending a clear message to the fans, Vilahamn emphasised that Tottenham are still on a journey.

He added: “We knew that it’s a tough run. To be honest, the gap between the top teams is big. To make sure we beat these teams, we need to make sure we have a really good strategy where we stay in the games for a while.

“If you look at the second half, we had some really good patterns and some really good attitude in the team. We obviously don’t have everything we need to win games, and it hurts today to lose in front of the fans, it’s hurt to do that against Arsenal.

“Losing against Arsenal and the top three teams, that’s actually where we are right now. If you are going to bet on those games, you will bet that we are going to lose against the top teams. Time will take us to the next level, everything we do is according to the plan. We need to go through tough times to see where we are and what players are suited to the way we play. It’s really tough, but it’s a part of life and it’s a part of football.”

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