Sherwood: We can afford to lose five games in top four hunt

Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood believes his side could lose up to five of their remaining Premier League fixtures and still qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Spurs sit fifth in the table following their 1-0 win over fellow top-four hopefuls Everton on Sunday, with just a three-point gap up to Liverpool, who currently occupy that much-coveted fourth spot.

Sherwood has lost just one of his nine league fixtures since replacing Andre Villas-Boas as manager at White Hart Lane, albeit a 5-1 mauling at the hands of Manchester City, but feels he could afford to see his side lose several more games in the run-in.

“I haven’t looked at it, maths isn’t my strong point but I would say we can only possibly afford to lose four or five games maybe of what we have got left,” he said. “That would be a huge tally.”

Someone could drop a couple but big rivals like Liverpool are flying and we need them to trip up.”

Both Tottenham and Everton are the two clubs many would expect to put pressure on the current top four sides but Sherwood reckons you have to look as far down as Southampton in ninth place for teams who could still feasibly qualify for the Champions League.

“It will go to the wire. I don’t think anything will be secured until the last month of the season. I would say Newcastle have to consider themselves in it and possibly Southampton, Manchester United for sure.

“Our target is fourth place and it always has been, if we can get higher than that then great but it is the target we are looking for.”