Roberto De Zerbi has been left impressed by Archie Gray after the youngster’s first goal of the season, but Tottenham need to be more clinical against low blocks.

It is all finally starting to come together for Tottenham Hotspur, with the Lilywhites having secured three consecutive Premier League victories.

This upturn in form has also seen Spurs climb the table and move into eighth place, with a push for European football now looking very realistic.

The victory against Crystal Palace was Tottenham’s second home win of the campaign and ensured a return of 10 points from their last five matches, the fourth-best run of any side in the division.

Tottenham have Archie Gray and Jan Paul van Hecke to thank for the win, with Gray opening the scoring for his first goal of the season before Van Hecke grabbed his second for Spurs to seal all three points.

Roberto De Zerbi praises Archie Gray as Tottenham continue to improve

However, despite Gray’s impressive first-half display, which included his goal, the versatile midfielder was withdrawn at the interval. De Zerbi has since revealed that he made the change because Gray had picked up a yellow card rather than due to any injury concern.

Nevertheless, the Spurs boss was still full of praise for the youngster, who he claims has been impressive since Tottenham’s clash against Manchester United.

Speaking to football.london, De Zerbi explained: “He’s improving a lot. I don’t know, after Manchester United, he’s playing very, very well, as a mature player. Also the team. Today, the best thing of the team, they showed to be mature. They knew what we had to do with the ball, not to take stupid risks and to counter-attack even one player more.

“I think the style of Crystal Palace didn’t change for the red card and I knew before the game it could be a very tough, tough game. Because now we are improving in the principle, we are improving in the quality of the play.

“Maybe now we are not ready yet to play against one low block so close, so aggressive, in so small spaces. And it’s not easy for the top team, maybe for us in this moment. Maybe in two, three months we can reach the right level to play better against one low block. But now it’s very tough.”

De Zerbi wants Spurs to be more ruthless in front of goal

While Tottenham are beginning to settle into De Zerbi’s principles and rhythms, there is still room for improvement according to the Spurs boss.

The Italian believes the next step for his side is to become more ruthless in front of goal.

He said: “I’m very happy for the performance, because we showed to be a mature team, with clear ideas. We didn’t concede a counter-attack, maybe just one in the second half. We created many, many chances.

“If we want to follow perfection, we have to be more nasty, no? That is an individual thing, because if I’m number nine, number 10, I want to score. But I can’t say nothing.”

Asked whether if it is just the forwards he wants to be more ruthless, De Zerbi replied: “From everyone.”

On how he can get that mentality across to his players, he added: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know because today we won 2-0, but 28 shots. I think we played also very well because many times against 10 players, not 11, it’s always difficult to find the space.

“The spaces are very small. You have to move the ball quickly to put the ball from Mathys Tel to Kudus to move the opponent. If you want to play between the lines, you have to be perfect.

“Otherwise, you lose the ball and you concede a counter attack. For example, the second goal, we know very well that situation. The ball on the second post.

“Also in the first half, Mathys put the ball for Kudus in the same goal. I think we can be more precise in that situation if we want to score more goals.”