Van der Vaart: we’ll beat Villa

RAFAEL VAN DER VAART has warned his Tottenham team-mates that they risk losing ground in their push for a top-four finish unless they start to improve their record against the league’s weaker teams.

Spurs head into the festive period in fifth position on the back of an eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions, which stretches back to the start of November.

The Londoners’ outlook could have been much brighter had they not been defeated by the likes of West Ham and Wigan, both of whom sit inside the relegation zone.

Van der Vaart has been encouraged by Spurs’ performances in the draws against big teams like Manchester City and Chelsea and the win over bitterrivals Arsenal, but insists the team must beat the division’s poorer teams inorder to ensure they qualify for next year’s Champions League.

Looking ahead to Spurs’ games against Aston Villa, Newcastle, Fulham and Everton over the festive period, the Dutchman said: “We have to win our games and have confidence that we will be in the top four.

“It will be hard work. There are a lot of good teams but we play well against the big teams and some of the small clubs we have our problems.”

Van der Vaart will be fit to play in Tottenham’s St Stephen’s Day clash at Villa Park having recovered from the hamstring injury which has sidelined him for the past three weeks.

The 27-year-old, who has made a stunning impact since his summer move from Real Madrid, scored both goals in Spurs’ 2-1 win over Villa at White Hart Lane in October and is convinced that he and his team-mates will beat Gerard Houllier’s beleaguered side.

“When we played them at home it was difficult but it was a nice game. I expect a difficult match but we’regoing to win.”

Villa hover four points above the relegation zone after picking up just three points from a possible 12 and speculation is rife as to how manager Houllier will choose to boost his squad in January.

“At the moment I’m focused on the games, said the Frenchman.

“If you want to talk about Tottenham, I’m quite happy to do it. If you want to talk about even the game after, I’m quite happy to do it because two days later we play Manchester city at their place so I think the most important thing is to get points.

“We have 20 points which is not enough.

“Mind you, you could say easily for those who’ve followed our games we could have five or six points more. Then we’d be probably in seventh or eighth position.

“Unfortunately we’ve dropped points, sometimes in a silly way, and now we’ve got to refocus on the 21 games that are left to play.”

The major positive for Houllier as he heads into such a hectic period is that his injuries problems are quickly receding.

The postponement of last weekend’s game at Wigan gave Ashley and Luke Young time to recover from injuries, while long-term casualties Stiliyan Petrov and Fabian Delph are both back in full training.

The return of the former Leeds man in particular excites Houllier.

“There’s some good news I can give you which is probably the best signing we will have for the coming weeks which is the fact that Fabian Delph is back,” he said. “I think very soon you’ll see him.”

Both Delph and Petrov have an outside chance of being on the bench on St Stephen’s Day.

One player who will not be involved, though, is Steve Sidwell, who is on the brink of a move to West Ham.