Conte hopes Bournemouth fightback fuels Tottenham belief

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte said his side must believe more in themselves after they fought back from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 on Saturday.

A vital win keeps Spurs third in the Premier League and stops the rot after back-to-back league defeats.

Conte looked like he might pay the price for making six changes with Tuesday’s crucial Champions League trip to Marseille in mind as Kieffer Moore struck either side of half-time for Bournemouth.

But Tottenham turned the game around with three goals in the final 33 minutes from Ryan Sessegnon, Ben Davies and Rodrigo Bentancur.

“In the first part of the game we were a bit soft,” said Conte. “I prefer to avoid this type of situation but I have to praise the reaction of my players.

“This type of win can help us to have more confidence to trust much more in ourselves.”

Spurs were sluggish in the early stages and were punished when Moore steered Marcus Tavernier’s cross into the far corner.

Conte responded at half-time by introducing Lucas Moura and switching to his favoured 3-4-3 system.

But the visitors had a mountain to climb five minutes into the second half when Wales international Moore rose highest to power home Adam Smith’s cross.

Sessegnon gave Spurs life just before the hour mark as he latched onto Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s excellent through ball before firing into the far corner.

Bournemouth were then left to lament their defending from corners as they slipped to a third straight defeat.

Mark Travers was recalled in goal for the Cherries in place of the injured Neto and failed to deal with Ivan Perisic’s delivery to allow Davies to head into an empty net.

Tottenham pilled on the pressure in the closing stages in search of a winner and got their reward when Bentancur coolly slotted in a loose ball after Bournemouth failed to deal with Son Heung-min’s corner.

Victory takes Spurs to within three points of leaders Manchester City and opens up a five-point cushion over fifth-placed Chelsea in the race for a top-four finish.