Former Premier League star Carlton Palmer insists that Nuno Espirito Santo is not a “top” manager amid his struggles at Tottenham Hotspur.

The club are winning games, and have lost their last three Premier League outings.

The manner of those defeats have been particularly troubling, with Spurs losing 3-0 to both Crystal Palace and Chelsea, and being beaten 3-1 by Arsenal in a one-sided north London derby.

They face Aston Villa in the Premier League this weekend, with Dean Smith’s men fresh from their 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford.

And Palmer does not think that the club made the right move in appointing Nuno, having endured a genuinely chaotic managerial search that saw a number of names linked with the club.

Indeed, the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Antonio Conte and Gennaro Gattuso were all briefly considered by the club, prior to the appointment of the former Wolves boss.

The ex-England international said: “They haven’t been able, even from the start, let’s be right about this and no disrespect to Nuno, to attract a top manager. Nuno was brought in, what, maybe eighth, ninth, tenth choice as manager.

"That shows the unrest within the football club and the way that the club is at the moment.”