Paul Merson predicts who will finish fourth between Spurs and Aston Villa
Paul Merson has backed Aston Villa to secure fourth place finish ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, given the difficult run of fixtures that Spurs have coming up.
Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League again were severely damaged by the results of last weekend, when the Lilywhites suffered a humiliating 4-0 loss at St. James’ Park and Villa surprised everyone with a 2-0 victory at the Emirates.
This puts Unai Emery’s team three points ahead of Spurs, who, while having a game in hand, have some difficult games ahead of them, including matches against all three of the title contenders.
After the most recent European results, the race for fourth place has even greater significance because Ange Postecoglou’s team knows that a fifth-place result will not be sufficient to qualify for the Champions League.
Paul Merson backs Aston Villa to beat Tottenham to fourth
Merson admitted that he cannot back Spurs to secure fourth, given the inconsistency that they have shown over recent weeks.
When asked to predict the race for the final Champions League spot, the former Arsenal man told Sky Sports (20/04/24): “They have got the hardest games, Tottenham, they can affect the Premier League by playing the three teams, but I have just got to go with Aston Villa at the moment.
Villa has to go, in my opinion. I believe that Tottenham is now very inconsistent. Last week, they lost to Newcastle, and you may recall that they were completely destroyed by Fulham. They really need to be more consistent.
Given that a generation of Villa supporters has not witnessed their team compete in the Champions League, it makes sense that Emery and the Villa players appear more driven to place fourth than Tottenham is.
It sounds like Postecoglou is considering Champions League qualification a bonus, and many Spurs supporters are ambivalent about their team competing in the competition.
