Claudio Ranieri believes Watford are alive and "will survive" despite conceding late in a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

The head coach felt his side's performance was cause for optimism, as they came close to shutting out Spurs in a narrow loss at Vicarage Road.

The source of the goal, a late header from Davinson Sanchez, left the Italian feeling frustrated but overall he felt there was enough in their display to suggest they can avoid relegation this season.

"I think we made a good match because we knew that the Tottenham wanted to play on the counter attack and we didn’t concede one counter," said Ranieri.

"We were always very solid in different ways. They made a lot of crosses, but my taller player were very calm. 

"In the first half I was not happy because I think we missed a lot of passes, but in the second half, we were much better. Joao Pedro played a good match, he had two good chances to do something good. Joshua King made a fantastic shot that Lloris saved very well.

"What I didn't think is that we'd concede a goal with a header, it's unbelievable. We have tall players and in the last minute, it's a pity.

"I'm proud of my players and also our fans should be proud because our match was good. We played much better, the performance was much better than the last match against West Ham.

"We are alive and will survive."

Towards the end of the match, the Watford supporters were left feeling that they should have had a penalty when Pedro was sent tumbling in the box by Hugo Lloris. 

However, Ranieri said he had no qualms with the referee's decision.

"Never I speak about the referee decision, I'm okay," he said. "The referee saw it, it wasn’t a penalty, VAR saw it and said its not a penalty, then okay."