Tottenham's 3-2 win against Manchester City over the weekend was "massive" for Antonio Conte, says journalist Paul Brown.

The north London club had not been playing well before that game and were on a dire run of form, but Brown believes the players are still on side following that performance at the Etihad.

How were things going before the victory against City?

Badly. Tottenham were on a run of three straight league defeats after losing to Chelsea, Southampton and Wolves.

Spurs also found themselves grabbing the wrong kind of attention when Conte initially appeared to criticise the north London club's transfer activity last month.

"Four players left in January - four important players for Tottenham. Two have arrived, so even numerically, instead of reinforcing yourself you may have, on paper, weakened," Conte said in an interview with Sky Italia.

The Italian has since clarified those comments and has suggested that the media are trying to "create a problem" between him and the club. Still, it only added to what had been a very bad period for Tottenham this season.

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What has Brown said about Tottenham's win against City?

Considering all of that, Brown believes the triumph over City, which saw Harry Kane score twice against the team who tried to buy him last summer, was massive for Conte.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the Daily Star journalist said: "It was massive for Conte because they've been struggling so badly.

"The last two home games they've been pretty atrocious, and I think he needed a big statement win to prove the project is still on course and that the players are still on side - I think they showed that."

Will Tottenham now go on to finish in the top four?

If they continue to play the way they did at the Etihad, then they have every chance.

Conte's men are not too far off Manchester United in fourth, who they have games in hand on. Of course, they are also in a battle against the likes of Wolves, West Ham and north London rivals Arsenal, but Chelsea are not exactly out of sight yet either, so it would not be a shock if they ended up getting sucked into a top-four fight, thus opening up another Champions League spot.

Ultimately, despite that poor run of form, Tottenham are still well in contention for Champions League football next season and will be confident going into their game against Burnley following that victory over Pep Guardiola's men.