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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has commented on the battle for Champions League qualification in the Premier League.
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Spurs currently sit 16th in the Premier League and can’t qualify for any European competition based on league position alone.
But they could still qualify for next season’s Champions League by winning the Europa League. Postecoglou’s side have reached the Europa League semi-final where they will face Norweigan side Bodo/Glimt over two legs.
The winner of the tie will then face either Manchester United or Athletic Club in the final.
Tottenham finished fifth in Postecoglou’s first season in charge but missed out on Champions League qualification due to the performance of Premier League clubs in European competitions. This season, English clubs have been much stronger on the whole, which has granted an extra Champions League spot based on the recently introduced UEFA coefficient rules.
The Premier League battle for Champions League qualification
Spurs’ 4-1 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday confirmed the Premier League title, while Newcastle’s 3-0 win over Ipswich Town confirmed all three relegated sides, leaving just the battle for European qualification.
Arsenal are seven points inside the Champions League places and set to qualify but only two points separate Newcastle in third and Nottingham Forest in sixth with four games left to play. The Magpies are third on 62 points, Manchester City are fourth on 61 and Chelsea are fifth on 60 points.
Forest sit sixth on 60 points but have a game in hand on the teams around them. Aston Villa still have a chance of qualifying for the Champions League but will have to close a three-point gap in their final four games.
Villa recently turned down Spurs’ request to move their Premier League match from May 18 to May 15 to give them extra time to prepare for a potential Europa League final.
Ange Postecoglou’s spiky comments about Champions League battle
While Spurs could still make it six English club’s in next season’s Champions League, Postecoglou was typically spiky when commenting on the race for Europe in the Premier League.
"I love the frenzy around finishing fifth this year,” Postecoglou said with a hint of sarcasm. “They’re all brilliant, aren’t they?
“We finished fifth last year. Why is it such a disaster that we finished fifth? That’s what you need to ask everyone and yourselves… around this time last year, I was asked to lose a game, and I was wrong for wanting to win it.
"But we finished fifth last year, yet it's not a good story. A better story is my tenure has been a disaster and it continues to be.
“I just think that the kind of hysteria that is surrounding what’s happening at the moment is all premeditated for a certain outcome."
Last season, Postecoglou claimed he was asked to lose Spurs’ match against Manchester City to help deny rivals Arsenal the Premier League title. Spurs lost the game 2-0 and City ended up winning the title ahead of Arsenal.
This season, history has somewhat repeated itself with Spurs losing 4-1 to Liverpool to mathematically deny Arsenal the title with four games left to play.