Tottenham boss Antonio Conte admits his threats to quit earlier this year were a ploy to shake his players.

Spurs hammered Arsenal 3-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday night to go within a point of their bitter rivals with two games to go. After the game, Conte was quizzed about his connection with the club having overcome difficult moments, with the team finally looking to have embraced his philosophy.

He said he was taking a "risk" by coming to Tottenham and was driven "crazy" by the team's poor run of form between January and February that saw Conte lose four games in five for the first time in his career.

"I think there are moments that if you want to change the situation, sometimes you have to go strong," he said after the thumping win over Arsenal. "I understand very well that I took a risk because a lot of people didn't understand.

"I read that it only took two months for Tottenham to make Conte crazy! I remember very well [that] I was the crazy [one]. Sometimes coaches have a strategy and the strategy is the stick or the carrott. At the time, all of the environment needed the stick. Myself was the first person because I hit myself. And then the others.

"Before saying something wrong about the players or the situation, the first to take the blame has to the manager. The manager has to address the situation. At the time, I thought it was right to go strong to try to change the situation. At the time, in my opinion no-one could think with two games to go, Tottenham could fight for the Champions League.

"Instead now, we are there and from that step we improved a lot. Also, there are moments when everyone has to take responsibility. The manager is the first, then the players, the club and all the employees of Tottenham. Because we win and we lose together."