Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lewis Holtby is confident of holding off rivals Arsenal in the race for the fourth Champions League spot despite having their lead cut to four points.

Victory in the north London derby at the start of March looked like cementing Tottenham's top four spot, but successive defeats to Liverpool and Fulham have allowed The Gunners to go within four points with a game in hand.

Spurs will be forced to manage their Premier League top four aspirations with their Europa League campaign, which reaches the quarter final stage next month, but Holtby is optimistic the current international break can allow the club's players to refresh for the business end of the season.

Lewis Holtby
Holtby is ready for Arsenal's assault on the top four.

"No we're not scared," Holtby claimed. "That's the past. We are prepared.

"We have a lot of players who have seen that but we are prepared now and we have to just focus on our game. We don't look at the table, just win our games and at the end we can watch and hope that we are in the top four.

"We can definitely do it. We had 12 unbeaten league games, we had a very good run. And now we've had three disappointing games.

"These 12 days of international break are really good for us to clear everybody's head; to go to the national team and see something else. We will bounce back, especially in the next game.

"There are still a lot of games to play and I think we have the right mentality and the right quality to play Champions League next season."

Holtby is currently on international duty with the Germany Under-21's but will be seeking to banish memories of a difficult double-header as they suffered defeat to Italy before a last-gasp win goal helped defeat Israel after the Tottenham midfielder himself had given the visitors the lead.

Since his January transfer window move to Tottenham, Holtby has struggled somewhat to adapt to the demands of English football, while the extensive midfielder options available to manager Andre Villas-Boas has led to regular changes.

Swansea City represent the next test for Spurs upon their return from the international break.