Ramos retains top-four hope

Juande Ramos has seen his Tottenham side slump to bottom of the Premier League following Monday's 2-1 loss to Aston Villa.

The Tottenham boss Juande Ramos insists it is too early to write off hopes of a top-four finish despite the defeat by Aston Villa bringing about the club's worst start to a Premier League season. Spurs are bottom of the table with a point from four games and with Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov no longer at White Hart Lane, Ramos pointed to a lack of time to prepare with his new recruits as Villa grabbed a deserved 2-1 win. It is Martin O'Neill's men who are now currently in the final Champions League place that Spurs have been chasing, but Ramos believes there is plenty of time to mount a challenge. "We've only played four games, it's only just begun," said the Spaniard. "There is still room for us there. We had very little time to prepare ? (Vedran) Corluka, (Roman) Pavlyuchenko and (Fraizer) Campbell are new to the club and haven't really had time. "We are behind in our preparations. We need to keep the spirit going and climb as high up the table as possible. "We've made an irregular start to the season having lost three games which makes it an uphill struggle for us." Ramos insists he has faced bigger challenges in his career and feels he has the quality in his squad to kick-start their season. "We've got a young squad with plenty of quality there and hopefully with calmness and experience we'll get a positive result and after that things could well change for us," he said. "I'm not going to carry out an assessment after just one game. Don't forget this is the same squad that beat Roma 5-1. "We've had good results against Celtic and Roma, I know that was in pre-season but they were great games and we have very good footballers." Ramos admitted he was furious with his players but refused to single out Heurelho Gomes, who was at fault for Ashley Young's strike just after the break. It was the Brazilian who kept Spurs in the game after Nigel Reo-Coker had opened the scoring in the fifth minute. "I'm always angry at the end of games like this with the players and myself as well," Ramos said. "The blame I give to the goalkeeper is the blame that is due to him, like the other players. On other occasions he also stopped them scoring goals. "I think he was absolutely magnificent apart from that goal." Seven of O'Neill's starting XI were Englishmen, although it was Franco Baldini, from England's backroom staff, rather than coach Fabio Capello, who watched the game. "I'm not wildly interested in what Fabio does, I'm sure he's basking in the glory of a wonderful performance and that is great," O'Neill said. "With Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor, their time will come. I'm really selfish about this and want them to be on the fringe of the internationals but not actually play. "I'd hope that would continue for another eight years!" Darren Bent pulled one back for Spurs but Villa held on for their first three points in London for four years. Reo-Coker said: "It's just hard work and determination. "We can be as strong as we want to be. The Premier League is very strong and competitive ? we are just focusing on getting points on the board." Villa's England midfielder Gareth Barry added: "They had a lot of pressure but we saw it out well." Agbonlahor picked up a thigh problem but the injury is not thought to be serious, while John Carew hobbled off with an apparent ankle injury and will need to be assessed ahead of Villa's Uefa Cup clash against Litex Lovech on Thursday.

*PA Sport