Tottenham’s Andre Villas-Boas: We must stay connected to the top

Andre Villas-Boas has stressed the importance of Tottenham Hotspur staying connected to the top four ahead of a tough run of fixtures.

Spurs, who are currently fourth in the Premier League, face high-flying Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday before taking on Newcastle United, Manchester City and Manchester United in the next four weeks.

The Citizens dropped points following a 2-1 loss to Chelsea last Sunday, whilst table-toppers Arsenal and third-placed Liverpool meet at Emirates Stadium on Saturday before the Gunners travel to Old Trafford next weekend.

And Villas-Boas wants Spurs to continue to pick up valuable points in their pursuit of a top-four finish as the battle at the top of the table heats up in the coming weeks.

“I think what we want is to stay connected to the top,” Villas-Boas said.

“The big fixtures start coming now; Arsenal-Liverpool, Man United-Arsenal, Chesea-Man City last weekend.

“So I think everybody in that leading pack will still be very tight together at the end in two or three weeks.

“It’s important for us to keep gathering the points against the teams competing for the positions with us.”

Villas-Boas is taking encouragement from the recent performances of his defenders following back-to-back Premier League clean sheets.

“It’s fine. Whatever the praise or criticism we get is indifferent for the group,” he added.

“We have been more compact and we’ve been able to get some clean sheets which always helps the confidence of our defence.”