Tottenham moved six points clear of Liverpool in fourth after Harry Kane's double gave them a much-needed 3-1 home win over Nottingham Forest
Spurs took full advantage of Liverpool's shock defeat at relegation strugglers Bournemouth beforehand to boost their top-four hopes after disappointing FA Cup and Champions League exits in the last 11 days
Kane's first-half double, which took his Premier League tally to 20 goals this season, and Heung-Min Son's second-half finish put Spurs 3-0 up after 62 minutes
Forest scored a late consolation (81) through Joe Worrall's header, with substitute Andre Ayew seeing his stoppage-time penalty saved by Fraser Forster
Defeat for Steve Cooper's side leaves them three points above the relegation zone, having won just once away from home in the Premier League this season
Richarlison, who started despite  after Wednesday's Champions League exit at the hands of AC Milan, looked to have given Spurs the lead with a fine third-minute finish
But the Brazilian was denied a first Premier League goal for Spurs after a lengthy VAR check deemed the forward offside in a marginal call
Spurs eventually went ahead through Kane, who headed home Pedro Porro's cross in the 19th minute giving the Spaniard his first assist since joining the club in January
Sixteen minutes later, Kane scored his second from the spot - his first penalty since December's World Cup miss against France - after Richarlison was brought down by Forest captain Worrall
Richarlison was also at the heart of Spurs' third in the 62nd minute as he crossed for Son, who swept home into the bottom corner
The travelling Forest support were rewarded with just their fourth away league goal of the season when Worrall headed home at the back post after Felipe's flick-on from a corner
They nearly had a second to celebrate when Spurs substitute Dejan Kulusevski was penalised for handball inside the area following a VAR review
But Ayew saw his spot-kick saved by Forster in the 96th minute to cap off a miserable day for the visitors, who were forced to take star man Brennan Johnson off in the second half with a groin injury, with the Welshman set to have a scan
head coach  speaking in his post-match press conference:"Today in my players I have seen the fire in their eyes
"Today was really important, it was vital to get three points, especially because after the game against Milan, but today it was really important because we know we only have the league now
"There are 11 games to go, we needed today to bounce back to show that we are strong mentally
"In this type of situation, the morale can be really down, instead I see the right spirit and the right desire to get three points
"It was positive, but at the same time I said to my players this is the past and we have tonight to enjoy this win but then we have to start to think about the next game
" head coach speaking in his post-match press conference:"The first-half performance was really where the game was won and lost
 We didn't compete well enough in the game
"I didn't like us in the duels, the one-vs-ones, even in tackling
 It just wasn't at the competitive level it needed to be
 If anything the disallowed goal should've been the warning sign
"We just weren't aggressive enough in the first half
 Second half we were much better, we were on the front foot and we did play with more competitiveness and aggression, and because of that, we had some decent moments
"We looked a better team in the second half but the frustration is around the first half
 In the end, we gave ourselves too much to do
" final game of March sees them visit the Premier League's bottom side  next Saturday, with kick-off at 3pm
last game before the international break sees them face another Champions League-chasing team as they host on Friday night, live onfrom 7pm; kick-off 8pm
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