Good afternoon.

It is crucial today that we return to the positive things we were doing at the start of the season – and play with character and fight from the first whistle.

We showed personality and aggression in the second half at Wolves on Monday. We were winning first and second balls and had more possession.

Then we began to create chances and, in the end, we had more shots than our opponents. But our reaction came too late and we paid the price for not playing well in the first half.

The mistakes were clear, we were passive and allowed too much of the ball. They grew in confidence and capitalised with their goals.

Today, we are facing a team with some world-class forwards and players determined to show a new manager they are ready to be important for the team.

The only way to compete and achieve the result we want is to have complete focus and commitment for the entire match.

Our team needs your help, too. The connection between the players and fans is there and your support is so vital for everything we are trying to do.

Football is emotional and I know you want our players to work hard and show how much they care about the badge on their shirt.

We have seen spirit and intensity this season and I have no complaints about the players’ application and desire to do well for our club.

There have been tactical, technical and individual mistakes, we know that. These are things we must work on and improve over time.

It is impossible to accelerate from 0-100. We are trying to build a team that is strong mentally, physically and tactically, so we know what we will get on the pitch every time.

This is a process that needs some patience – and there have been positive signs, especially when we started the season well.

In those matches we were reacting strongly to adversity and our football was increasingly confident and purposeful.

But during that run I was very clear that we had done nothing, that it was only the start.

It is no different in the current situation and these three games we lost have been strange in some ways.

The match against West Ham was close but our attacking wasn’t precise and one late goal decided the outcome.

We were winning against Watford with 12 minutes remaining but did not manage that situation.

After the equaliser, there was still time to recover and score another goal but instead we started hurrying and making mistakes.

Watford gained belief and took the chances we allowed them. We analysed everything and it was clear we were getting in bad positions and not attacking the ball in defensive situations.

We missed tackles and didn’t keep possession. It was too many things added together.

In both those matches at home and against Wolves in the first half we didn’t have control and intensity during critical periods.

There was improvement in the second half against Wolves and our aim is for that good 45 minutes to translate into 90 positive minutes today.

We welcome Antonio Conte and the staff and players of Tottenham Hotspur.

I want to welcome Antonio back to the Premier League, too. His record as a manager speaks for itself. He’s had success at all his clubs and Antonio’s teams always play with urgency and aggression, challenging for every ball.

We have prepared for an opponent that is competitive and hungry to win.

The attitude of the players this week has been really good. We were all hurting after the result at Wolves but after one or two days the focus had to switch to the next game.

We are still without some players who can make a difference. Dominic and Abdoulaye and Yerry are all really good in the air and could help us defending and attacking set pieces and, of course, Dominic is one of our main goalscorers.

But you cannot control everything and it is our job to adjust and try to be strong enough to manage.

We won games without big players and we have the quality in our team to do it again.

I was really sad to hear of the passing of Walter Smith three days after our last match here at Goodison.

I was lucky enough to spend some time with Walter when I was managing Newcastle United. We talked a lot about football and he made a big impression on me as a person and a manager.

The people at our club who worked with Walter speak very highly of his character and desire to do his best for Everton. He will be remembered as a giant of our sport and the thoughts of everybody at Everton are with Walter’s family and friends.

Finally, at today’s match we will remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice to secure and protect our freedom.

We will always remember them.

Rafa Benitez