AVB: Champion League Destiny Now in Our Own Hands

Andre Villas-Boas could barely conceal his joy after Tottenham's impressive comeback win over Manchester City on Sunday led him to declare that the club were now in charge of their Champions League destiny.

Tottenham remained in touch with Arsenal after securing a 3-1 win over City and were further boosted when Chelsea were denied a win at Anfield due to a 97th minute equaliser from Liverpool's Luis Suarez.

The vital three points mean that Spurs can now overtake Arsenal if they win their game in hand and with just five games remaining, a place in the top four is now achievable.

"We are now in control because we have the game in hand," said Villas-Boas, as quoted in the Mirror. "Of course, the game in hand is against Chelsea and it's a difficult game in Stamford Bridge.

"We need to collect all the points possible before that fixture but I think the Chelsea game will be the decider."

Tottenham had struggled for close to an hour at White Hart Lane, but three substations from Villas-Boas made a huge diffierence as Tom Huddlestone, Jermain Defoe and Lewis Holtby all played a major role in delivering the win.

"They came on with the right spirit, approach and mentality," added the former Chelsea boss. "The first goal was the key point of the game. Once we got that started to gain confidence so the equaliser was the decisive moment."

Victory over the reigning Premier League champions should give the Tottenham players confidence that they will not falter at the final stages of the season, as they have done in the two previous campaigns.

If they can pick up maximum points in their next two games away at Wigan and at home to Southampton, then they will be in prime position for their crunch clash with fellow top four hopefuls Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

With Arsenal seen as having the easiest remaining fixtures of the three London clubs, Spurs may well need to take maximum points from their remaining five games to make sure of Champions League football for next season.