Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has talked up the importance of his side beating North London rivals Arsenal to second place in the Premier League this season.

Spurs missed the chance to virtually guarantee a place as runners-up by falling to a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Southampton this afternoon, leaving them just three points clear of the Gunners.

Pochettino insists that his side were not affected by Monday's draw with Chelsea which saw their title hopes ended once and for all, but admitted that they lacked consistency in their play today.

"The first half we played very well, and we had more than 70% possession. But we needed to be more solid and show more consistency - we lacked this today. I'm disappointed but we're still fighting," he told reporters.

"There was no hangover from last week - we started the game very well. They had few shots and scored two goals, but this is football and I congratulate Southampton.

"We still need to learn a lot of things - we need to keep improving into next season. It's important to finish second, and to do that we need to win games."

Spurs will finish their season away to Newcastle United next Sunday.