Tottenham will miss out on top-four finish, claims George Graham

George Graham believes Tottenham will miss out on Champions League qualification this season because of their difficult run-in.

Spurs looked to be cruising towards a top-four finish after their 2-1 win over rivals Arsenal earlier this month but back-to-back defeats in the league allowed the Gunners to close the gap back to four points with eight games left to play.

Arsene Wenger’s men can reduce the deficit to fourth-placed Spurs to just one point should they win their game in hand.

And ex-Spurs boss Graham says that he expects Tottenham to drop out of the top four, with testing games against Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton looming large for the north Londoners.

“Tottenham will be the ones to lose out,” Graham told the Daily Mirror.

“They have a difficult run-in and they have played a game more than the others. But I want to stress that it would be anything but a disaster for them or make it a poor ­season. In fact, I would say the opposite.”

Even if Spurs do miss out on a spot in Europe’s elite club competition, Graham believes Andre Villas-Boas deserves plenty of credit for a successful first season at White Hart Lane.

“He [Villas-Boas] has been ­assembling a squad and he has done well to be in such a high ­position in the league and still be involved in the Europa League,” Graham added.

“He can build on that and I hope he can keep Gareth Bale — for the club’s sake and the player’s sake.”