First test? What about losing Kane, counters Ange

Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham have already passed plenty of tests this season - but he will not let the absence of nine first-team players at Wolves offer up an excuse for a dropoff in performance.

Spurs suffered their first defeat of the Premier League campaign on Monday in a chaotic 4-1 home loss to Chelsea, which could have further consequences in the long term.

Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero were sent off during the London derby, while Micky van de Ven (hamstring) and James Maddison (ankle) suffered serious injuries that will rule them out until January.

Postecoglou, however, is no stranger to a challenge given Harry Kane's departure on the eve of the new campaign.

"The first test? Losing the greatest ever player in this competition the day before the start of the season? Nah, piece of cake," Postecoglou pointed out.

"We lost players to almost season-ending injuries. Nah, don't worry about it. Mate, there are tests all the time.

"In my whole career, I figured out there are only two states of being as a manager: under siege, or it's coming. I'm well aware that every day nothing runs smooth. There's always challenges out there.

"I just try and make sure I don't change my state of being. It is what it is.

"I try and focus on what's important. We're still building a team and an environment where people want to win. It's not going to change from week to week.

"It's fairly extreme even for a person of my experience to lose five players in one game, but that doesn't mean it's any worse than anything we faced so far and it's being a bit disrespectful to this group of players to say that everything has gone their way because it hasn't.

"From day one there's been a real resilience and character in the group and