All to play for - Townsend

02 March 2015 23:16

Andros Townsend says Tottenham will only have themselves to blame if their season fizzles out without a serious push for Champions League qualification.

Three days after being knocked out of the Europa League by Fiorentina, Spurs lost the Capital One Cup final 2-0 to Chelsea on Sunday.

The north London side now have just one target left - to finish in the top four and return to Europe's biggest competition for the first time in five seasons.

Spurs are six points behind fourth-placed Manchester United but have a game in hand and they also do not have to travel across the continent every few weeks.

"It's all to play for and there's no excuses about the schedule - Thursday-Sunday - it's just straight weekend games until the end of the season now and hopefully we'll be good enough to get fourth place," the England winger said.

"We're not complaining. If you want to be one of the best teams in the world you have to play midweek-Sunday, midweek-Saturday, but now it gives us a focus, a chance to train a bit more and come into games fresher and hopefully we're good enough to get fourth place.

"We're out of two competitions but that just makes us more hungry to fight for fourth place in the Premier League."

Townsend, one of five players in Sunday's starting XI to have come through the club's academy, is sure Tottenham are developing into a major force in English football again.

"Hopefully this is just the start," the 23-year-old said. "This young team will have many occasions to play in finals.

"We were extremely disappointed. It was a game we fully expected to win.

"The fact we were so disappointed just shows how ambitious we are and how good we are as a team.

"We're on the beginning of our journey and hopefully we can lift a trophy in a few years' time."

Source: PA