Tottenham defender Ben Davies wants side to be more 'streetwise' as Chris Wood looks to prove point to ex-boss

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Ben Davies has implored his Tottenham team-mates to be more 'streetwise' in order to see out matches.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino warned his side they would be unable to sustain a title challenge, as they have for the previous two campaigns, if they continued to display mental fragility in the closing stages of games.

Against Burnley on Sunday they conceded in the second minute of stoppage time from a ball right through their defence that cost them two points. The weekend before they lost against title rivals Chelsea to an 88th-minute Marcos Alonso strike.

Ben Davies admitted Tottenham need to be more 'streetwise' when they are closing games out

Tottenham were winning 1-0 against Burnley before Chris Wood scored a late equaliser

'I just think we need to be a bit more streetwise at times,' left-back Davies said. 'And slow the game down. It's not always about going for the second goal, we need to slow it down and go for the corners a bit more. It's not always possible to play the perfect game, sometimes you have to be a bit scrappy.

'I don't think it needs to change (massively); we play football the right way and always will do. But the last five minutes of games we just need to manage it better and go a bit long sometimes. We could have scored three or four and it would have been different.'

Chris Wood came from the bench to score the equaliser on his Burnley debut following a £17million move from Leeds United last week. 

The 25-year-old believes he has a point to prove to Nigel Pearson, his former manager, who handed him just seven substitute appearances and no starts in the Premier League following Leicester City's promotion in 2014.

Wood's strike is the second late goal Spurs have conceded after Marcos Alonso's winner

'I definitely feel I do,' Wood said. 'That's my feeling and belief, I'm sure other people will disagree. That's for me to prove them wrong. I will just keep working hard and that's all I can do.' 

Wood, who also scored late on his Premier League debut for Leicester in a 2-2 draw with Everton, went on loan to Ipswich and then signed permanently for Leeds before Sean Dyche made a move this summer to replace Andre Gray who left for Watford.

'It was very frustrating,' the striker said of his time on the fringes under Pearson. 'I wanted to be playing, I thought I could have got more game time. But that's football. 

'The manager picked other players and I had to get more football elsewhere and thankfully I moved to Leeds and then Burnley.'