Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou did not shy away from letting his players know his thoughts in the first-half of Thursday night's London derby with Chelsea.

Spurs travelled to Stamford Bridge looking to keep alive their hopes of UEFA Champions League football. Recent defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal had left Spurs with a mountain to climb to secure a top-four place with Aston Villa in the driving seat.

Despite needing three points against Chelsea, the north Londoners struggled to get into the game against Mauricio Pochettino's side and found themselves 1-0 down in the first-half thanks to Trevoh Chalobah's opener.

Mykhailo Mudryk and Nicolas Jackson both came close to scoring for the hosts in a difficult first-half for Spurs. And after 34 minutes, Postecoglou did not hide his frustration at his team's performance.

The Spurs boss was spotted shouting "stop passing it backwards" and "pass forward" to central defender Cristian Romero. He then seemed to demand midfield duo Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr to "press" more.

Postecoglou's angry rant seemed to work in the final 10 minutes of the first half as Spurs came close to equalising on three occasions. Romero, Sarr and Brennan Johnson all had chances but the north Londoners went into half-time behind.

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Should Tottenham fail to turn the game around, they will sit seven points behind Villa with four games remaining. They have a game in hand against Manchester City but would require Villa to lose at least two of their final three games against Brighton, Liverpool and Crystal Palace.