AVB dream lives on

Stoke City 1 Tottenham 2

Their admirable recovery in the penultimate game at Stoke, always a tough venue for visiting teams, allowed them leapfrog great rivals Arsenal for the first time in a month to regain fourth place.

Despite falling behind in the third minute to a near-post header from Steven N’Zonzi, Villas-Boas’s side showed their resilience by fighting back with strikes from Clint Dempsey and Emmanuel Adebayor, albeit aided by the dismissal early in the second half of Charlie Adam for two bookable offences against Jan Vertonghen.

The final round of Premier League matches next Sunday will pit Tottenham against Sunderland, one of the teams involved in the relegation fight, at White Hart Lane while Arsenal face Newcastle in the north-east, never an easy task.

But first Arsenal, who now trail Tottenham by two points, must play their delayed match tomorrow night against Wigan, fresh from their unexpected FA Cup final victory over Manchester City at Wembley.

It is a fixture which Wigan, playing enterprising football under Roberto Martinez, won last season, and Villas-Boas knows a similar outcome now would throw the door to Europe wide open.

He said: “Our win at Stoke keeps us in the frame and there is still the possibility of the Champions League. The dream is still there for us and we want to take it to the last day.”

It is hard to determine whether there is any additional pressure on Arsenal, having fallen to fifth place while Spurs delighted their fans with a fighting response at Stoke, always an uninviting arena for visitors.

Villas Boas said: “You never know. They are a very experienced side. They’re a very good side, which is why this is going down to the wire. I’m not sure if [the situation] puts them under pressure.

“But Wigan will be very motivated and will give them a hard game, both teams need the points so it will be very competitive. The Wigan players will obviously have great emotions going through their heads at the moment. But we saw the message from Dave Whelan saying that they would be focused on the Premier League.

“I’m not sure I’ll watch it, though.”

While it was Adebayor, the Togolese former Arsenal striker, who eventually scored the simple late winner at Stoke to keep his former club on their toes, Clint Dempsey’s performance was pivotal to Tottenham’s continued pursuit.

The American, who scored the equaliser from 25 yards after a Marc Wilson clearance went straight to him and also helped fashion the winning goal, has been a key player in Villas-Boas’s admirable season following the manager’s exit from Chelsea.

Villas Boas said: “He’s been a player who has been immense this season, not only assisting, but scoring. Sometimes he’s not had the credit he deserves, but he’s a hard worker. He had an amazing game at Stoke, it was an extremely good individual performance.”

Stoke will make the journey to Southampton for the final game safe in the knowledge that a difficult season cannot now end in relegation.

Manager Tony Pulis, who is not without his critics, said: “I’m delighted for us to be in the Premier League for a sixth consecutive season. It’s not just what the club have achieved on the pitch, it’s what the club are doing behind the scenes as well.

“You look at the money the club has spent on the infrastructure, the training ground, what they’ve done at the stadium and the academy. All this couldn’t have been achieved without what we have done on that pitch.”