Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has changed his tune on the race for the final top four spot in the Premier League after this weekend’s results.
Conte had overseen his Spurs side recorded a devastating four-goal victory away at Aston Villa with Heung-Min Son netting a hat-trick and Dejan Kulusevski also finding the net. It was an important day in the race for Champions League qualification as Arsenal were beaten at home by Brighton – five days after being humbled in a three-goal defeat against Crystal Palace – while a toothless Manchester United lost 1-0 at Everton.
It was a set of results that ensured Spurs moved three points clear of Arsenal – who have a game in hand – and six clear of Manchester United, while they have a vastly superior goal difference to both. Conte’s side are now in the box seat to secure that final qualification spot for the Champions League.
It was just over a week ago that the Italian was insisting that it would take a ‘miracle’ for his side to qualify for the Champions League next season and that it would depend on the results of Manchester United. However, Conte said after the four-goal win at Villa that Spurs were showing they deserved to stay in the race for a top four spot.
Speaking to the BBC ’s Match of the Day, Conte said: "We know the difficulty of playing Villa away, this stadium had a great atmosphere and I want to thank our fans because they were not in the same number but they pushed us from the start to the end - so to give them this type of satisfaction is great for us. We work to improve the players but also to make our fans satisfied about their team and that happened today. We are pleased - not an easy game but we showed resilience in the first half when Villa tried to push a lot and put a lot of pressure on us. Every time we tried to play the ball and have a chance we did score.
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"To be resilient is important if we want to be a top team, in every game there are moments when the opponent can create difficulty and if we are not strong you will never win something or do something important. We are going in this aspect, I'm very happy because I have a group of players who want to show me that they will improve in many aspects. When you have this you have to be happy to work with them and to try to do something important at the end of the season. Seven games to go and we are showing that we are deserving to stay in the race for a place in the Champions League."
Next up for Spurs is a home clash against Brighton – who are fresh off the back of a victory in the other half of North London – before a trip to Brentford. Spurs then face games against Leicester, Liverpool and Arsenal before finishing their campaign off with clashes against Burnley and Norwich.
