Mauricio Pochettino has said Tottenham should be praised rather than criticised for being four points above Arsenal at this stage of the season.
The third-place Spurs were 10 points ahead of the Gunners this time last week, eyeing the title rather than merely Champions League qualification. But after two successive defeats against Burnley and Chelsea, the Spurs are now looking over their shoulder, with fourth-place Arsenal closing in ahead of Saturday's north London derby at Wembley.
However, Pochettino has taken issue with the suggestion that the margin should be bigger.
"I think the feeling is a little bit weird," he said at a news conference. "It should be that everyone before the start of the season [would] sign to be in the position that we're in today, and you're [saying to] me, 'It's only four points, that Arsenal or Manchester United are below us, or Chelsea.'
"I think we're living in different realities because, with all the circumstances, Tottenham deserve big praise to be in the position that we're in at this moment of the season.
"Of course we're disappointed in the last two results but we need to keep going and trust in our team. It's going to be tough on Saturday but we believe we can deliver a good job."
Pochettino has accepted a Football Association charge of improper conduct after confronting referee Mike Dean after Saturday's defeat at Burnley and is now waiting to discover his punishment.
A touchline ban is possible, potentially against Southampton on March 9, but Pochettino feels that would be harsh.
"A ban? Why? I don't believe that it's going to happen," he said. "I don't think that's going to be fair. It was a conversation [with Dean], no? Maybe it was close but it was a conversation.
"I don't believe it's fair but I'm going to accept if they ban me and I can't be in the dugout against Southampton. It's different if it's fair or not."
Harry Kane has escaped punishment after a clash with Cesar Azpilicueta during Wednesday's defeat against Chelsea. The Spurs striker leaned his head into Azpilicueta's but referee Andre Marriner, who saw the incident, took no action and the FA have cleared Kane to face Arsenal.
"He was very professional in the action," Pochettino said. "I wasn't worried because I knew that what happened was going to happen.
"He's a player that cares about the club, the team and the result and it's normal to behave like this. The reaction is fantastic from my point of view because it's a player that cares about what's happened.
"It should be strange or different if he didn't show that character or show the message that he cares about the result, the situation, the club. That is the most important thing in my point of view."
Spurs recently won four successive matches while Kane was out of action with an ankle injury, while they have lost both games since his return, but Pochettino has scoffed at any suggestion of a correlation.
"It makes me laugh," he said. "It's unbelievable, but that's the era we're living in.
"For different circumstances we didn't win but Harry is one of the best players, not only here in Tottenham but in England, in Europe and the world. That is no doubt and there is no debate."
Tottenham will also be looking to Son Heung-Min for goals after drawing a blank in their midweek London derby defeat at Chelsea, and Pochettino has revealed he nearly signed the South Korean for Southampton when he left Hamburg in 2013.
"We were very close but in the end he was so young and his family preferred, rather than leaving Germany and the Bundesliga, to keep him there and he preferred to move to Bayer Leverkusen rather than Southampton," Pochettino said. "But we were so close."