Lloris fears inexperience may hurt Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur are six points off pace-setters Arsenal and fourth in the Premier League table, but keeper and club captain Hugo Lloris has said their lack of experience could hurt their chances of winning the league this season.

Tottenham have lost just two league matches in 20 but have drawn nine - the most of any team in the top half of the table - and Lloris put their struggles to win games down to the side's youthfulness.

"We don't have the maturity of some teams, like (Manchester) City or Arsenal," he told Standard Sport.

"You need experience. You can't buy it. You need to play games, you need to lose, you need to win.

"There is a great spirit in the team and we are working hard, so everything is positive but we need to go step by step."

Tottenham have the best defence in the top flight, with just 16 conceded so far, but have surrendered leads to draw with Stoke City, Leicester City, Arsenal and West Bromwich Albion, and Lloris bemoaned their inability to finish off opponents.

"When you have control, as we've had in certain games, you need to be clinical with the last pass, or to make sure your shot is on target," he said.

"We are a hungry young team, but very talented, and we want to challenge the best teams in England and Europe.

"We will see where we are before the last 10 games but at the moment we want to fight and stay as high as possible in the table."