BIRMINGHAM, May 3 (Reuters) - Successive Premier League victories for the first time since last August have arrived in the nick of time for Tottenham Hotspur but the relegation battle is far from won, manager Roberto de Zerbi warned on Sunday.
Tottenham fans must have thought they were dreaming as their side outplayed fifth-placed Aston Villa for a 2-1 victory that was far more comfortable than the score suggested.
Goals by Conor Gallagher and Richarlison inside the opening 25 minutes rewarded Tottenham's early domination and they never looked in danger of squandering the victory that moved them above West Ham United into 17th place with three games left.
Former Brighton manager De Zerbi has now gathered seven points from his first four games in charge since replacing interim manager Igor Tudor, including last week's 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers that snapped a 15-game winless run in the league, a sequence that had sent Tottenham towards a first relegation from the top flight since 1977.
They are now one point above West Ham with home games against Leeds United and Everton either side of an away trip to Chelsea remaining.
"We have to not forget the situation before Wolverhampton. The season is not finished yet and we cannot be happy just for these two wins," De Zerbi said.
"We have to keep working with the same mentality. And now I don't want to hear the positive voice. We have to stay focused for the next game. We have to feel the same pressure.
"Football can change week-by-week and we can't forget the position in the table and what we felt before the Wolves game. We have to push again."
While De Zerbi lost his first game in charge to Sunderland and then suffered heartache in his second when Brighton earned a 2-2 draw in stoppage time, he has quickly fuelled belief and confidence in the under-performing, injury-hit squad.
Forward Randal Kolo Muani produced one of his best displays for Tottenham on Sunday while Gallagher chose the perfect moment to score his first goal for the club.
"If I say Kolo Muani, Gallagher, Palhinha and all our players are great level, big level, it's because I feel. I don't want to sell something if I don't believe in my words," he said.
"I'm lucky because I'm working with good people and very good players. My job is just to transfer the confidence, to make them believe in themselves and to try to be stronger than the defeat, stronger than the position of the table, stronger than the words you normally say about Tottenham.
"To show passion, to show value, humility, pride."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
