Gary Neville has backed Tottenham to get into the top four this season and thinks that it could even be in place of Manchester United. Despite being in a state of seemingly consistent turmoil, Spurs moved above Newcastle into the Champions League places with a 2-0 victory over West Ham on Sunday.
The win came the day after Newcastle were beaten by Liverpool 2-0 as the Reds laid down a statement for their own top four ambitions. The Toon are in a rut themselves and have won just one of their last five games, drawing three and allowing other teams into the hunt in the process.
As for Erik ten Hag's men, they went from strength to strength, dismissing Leicester 3-0 earlier in the day. It has created a genuine battle for the European spots that is far from predictable.
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Antonio Conte's absence hasn't had the negative effect on performances that some had feared and Cristian Stellini's record in charge is impressive. There are still questions over consistency in North London though, with performances varying from game to game and also half by half.
Neville thinks that they have a secret weapon though and could take advantage of Ten Hag's reliance on Marcus Rashford. "I think for Tottenham, I always thought Tottenham would get there at the expense of maybe Man United, but I think Man United now are a very different animal," he told Sky Sports.
"Then you factor in the Marcus Rashford situation, if he gets injured then they become a worry. Would they be winning their games without Marcus Rashford? No they wouldn’t. Liverpool have undoubted quality with people coming back into the squad.
"I’ve always said Tottenham have a chance for one reason and one reason only - Harry Kane. He is goals. Tottenham don’t have to play very well with Harry Kane in the team, he will get goals and pull you out of the mire. I’ll come back to Liverpool, most of them have 45 points to play for, Liverpool have 48. There’s a lot of football to be played."
It appears to be four teams for two spots and that's discounting the form of Brighton, Fulham and Brentford who are all in the mix as well. The reliance on Kane perhaps mirrors that of Manchester United with Rashford, whilst Liverpool have only shown small signs of progression in recent weeks.
Roy Keane and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink are less certain. "That’s my worry with Spurs," the former Chelsea forward said. "They are really like, one week against City here they were absolutely magnificent, but then a few days later when you go to Leicester they got done, and easily done.
"Today in the first half they were not to be seen, and that has happened way too often. In the first half they get goals against and then they have got a mountain to climb. Bournemouth away, they’re losing, then they have to come and win 3-2, all that kind of stuff, and I don’t think they will make it.
"I think that Liverpool will come fourth, they’ve got two games in hand - they still need to win those games - but then it’s one point and I think Liverpool will be more consistent than Spurs."
Keane added: "They [Tottenham] need to be a bit more consistent, like we said before the game, one week they have a great performance and then they go to Leicester last week and it was a really bad performance. They need to keep that run going. They look behind them and they see Liverpool just slowly starting to get results.
"I would say so [that Liverpool is their biggest competition]. That’s no disrespect to the other teams that’s ahead of Liverpool, I just think with the quality that Liverpool have, they’re just slowly starting to put a run together. I think they’ll be the biggest threat.
"All Tottenham have to do is just focus on themselves and put performances in like that, be hard to beat. Last week against Leicester they were very, very easy to play against. The goals they conceded, they can avoid them. If they do that, they’ll be okay."
Sandwiched into the top four race is also a second leg Champions League tie against AC Milan. Having had the nerve to achieve their goals last season that may also hand Tottenham a vital advantage heading into the decisive stages of this campaign too.
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