Tottenham and Arsenal will struggle to reach the top four next season, according to ex-Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who says his former side have “gone backwards a million miles”.
Since reaching last season’s Champions League final, Spurs have suffered an extended downturn in form, sacked Mauricio Pochettino and now find themselves ninth in the Premier League with six games to play.
Performances have varied under Jose Mourinho, and Redknapp says the side are unrecognisable from the best days of Pochettino’s tenure.
“Tottenham have gone backwards a million miles,” Redknapp told TalkSPORT.
“You look at where they are now to where they were a couple of years ago, when Kyle Walker and Danny Rose were in form at full-back and Christian Eriksen was in great form, Mousa Dembele with him in midfield and Dele Alli was absolutely fantastic. They’re nowhere near that now.
“They finished above Liverpool two or three years ago when they finished second to Leicester, and suddenly Liverpool bought a couple of top players in, a great goalkeeper and a great centre-half and they’ve pushed on to become champions and Tottenham have gone exactly the opposite way.
“They got to the Champions League final last year, which was obviously a great achievement, but their league form was average for a long period. They averaged about a point a game for 25 games, which is relegation form. It hasn’t really improved.”
Tottenham are hoping that, with time to work with the squad and make the additions he sees fit, Mourinho can turn things around at the club, but Redknapp doesn’t think the decision to appoint him has paid off yet, and he also sees struggles ahead at neighbours Arsenal.
“They got rid of Poch, they brought in Jose and thought ‘He’s the man to get us into the top four’, and they need the Champions League, they’ve got an incredible stadium, the best training ground, everything’s in place,” he said. “But it hasn’t happened and it’s not going to happen.
“You look at them going forward, like Arsenal, are those two teams going to be in the top four next year?
“I see Man City and Liverpool as the top two, then you’ve got Man United and Chelsea, you’ve got teams emerging like Wolves.
“I don’t see it for them next year, it’s going to be tough again for the two clubs in north London.”