Remi Garde has bemoaned the unlucky nature of his Aston Villa side after a 2-0 reverse at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur made it five defeats on the spin.
The Villans' slim hopes of staging an unlikely resurgence to claw their way to safety took another battering on Sunday evening, courtesy of Harry Kane's double.
It was a similar story for bottom-of-the-table Villa, who created a couple of decent chances only to be denied by the woodwork, leaving them nine points from safety heading into the final stretch of the campaign.
"The result is not positive but for sure the attitude and commitment for the 90 minutes was better than in previous weeks," Garde is quoted as saying by BBC Sport. "I am frustrated for the players because they fought, but once again we have been too fragile defensively.
"We hit the post twice and didn't have the luck. But we have to fight against that. It is hard but then it is still mathematically possible so we need to fight. The situation is awful and it is massive challenge to win enough games to stay up.
"But you have to be proud and fight until the last minute. I love football and hate defeat. Five in a row. I don't think I've experienced that in my career."
Villa's paltry tally of 16 points is the third-worst ever at this stage of a Premier League season, with only Sunderland (10) in 2005-06 and Derby County (7) in 2007-08 claiming fewer.
Daniel Lewis
