Spurs keep up hunt for Champions League place

Spurs extended their lead over Arsene Wenger’s side to five points with today’s 2-1 victory over Manchester City strengthening their grip on fourth place.

“I had some friends over from Italy and they said what a team Arsenal are. I asked them can you imagine we’ve been above them for three-quarters of the season?” he said.

“English football is a high standard and they agreed. Arsenal are fifth in the league and they’ve beaten Real Madrid and Juventus.

“But for us it’s different. We have to try to get into Europe and that would be an unbelievable achievement. But we still have five games to go so I don’t want to worry about the Champions League.”

Spurs remain in pole position to claim the last available Champions League spot but Arsenal would snatch their place if they won the competition.

The Gunners, who play Manchester United tomorrow, face Villarreal in the semi-finals and they may have to rely on Champions League glory to secure qualification for next season.

“I’d have mixed feelings if we finished fourth but Arsenal won the Champions League. If we finished fourth it would be an unbelievable achievement,” said Jol.

“At the start of this season nobody expected us to be here. Although we’ve our disappointments along the way we’ve been consistent.”

A nervous performance against City today suggests Spurs may be feeling the pressure of booking their place Europe’s top competition.

They should have cruised to victory after taking a 2-0 lead just three minutes after the interval, but a dreadful lapse in concentration let City back in.

Paul Stalteri opened the scoring from close range after David James parried Robbie Keane’s shot into his path and a superbly-struck second from Michael Carrick doubled the lead.

But in the 51st minute Spurs’ defence went to sleep, allowing Georgios Samaras to prod home a long throw-in from Sylvain Distin which should have been cleared.

City created enough chances to win with Micah Richards wasting the best of them but Spurs held on during a tense finish to clinch a crucial three points.

James’ heroics – he made a string of stunning saves with only an attempted dribble out of defence blotting his copybook – kept Stuart Pearce’s side in the match and Jol saluted the City keeper.

“There is not an anxiety creeping into fourth place but we made it hard for ourselves,” he said.

“We were in a good position at 2-0 up, then gave a soft goal away and made it difficult for ourselves. But if it wasn’t for David James we would have scored four or five goals.

“He was terrific, especially in the first half. I think we missed one or two sitters as well. James made some terrific saves from Robbie and it was exciting stuff.”

James was subjected to chants of ‘England’s number four‘ by Spurs fans but he rammed the taunts back down their throats with a masterclass which led Pearce to claim he should be Sven-Goran Eriksson’s first-choice keeper.

“We saw the best of David James today. Over the 90 minutes he was the best player on the pitch and he kept us in the match,” he said.

“It was good to watch (Spurs keeper Paul) Robinson and James as England’s number one and two. I think James should be England number one, apart from when he tries to dribble around forwards.

“If you were to create the perfect goalkeeper you’d create David – he’s 6ft 4ins, there’s not an ounce of fat on him and he’s so athletic.

“There was one minor blip from him today but he saved us three or four goals. He thinks about his game and is a good professional.”

Pearce blasted his players after last weekend’s Middlesbrough horror-show, claiming he was disgusted by their performance, but he had no complaints today.

“I was very disappointed against Middlesbrough but the attitude of my players was fine today and they worked hard,” said the City boss, whose side have now lost five successive Premiership matches.

“Our confidence was lacking but that comes with results and as soon as we win the weight of the world will be off our shoulders.

“I’ve got an honest group of players – none of them said my criticism of them was unfair.”