Villas-Boas: Top four in Liverpool´s reach

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is the man to bring Champions League football back to Anfield.

The Portuguese boss is preparing to host Rodgers’ Liverpool at White Hart Lane in the Premier League on Wednesday, knowing a win can take Spurs into the top four, but with their opponents on an eight-game unbeaten run of their own, he remains wary of the threat they pose.

“At the moment they (Liverpool) are on a good run in terms of form,” Villas-Boas told reporters.

“They would want ideally to turn the draws into wins. In a couple of games there were very close to winning but they didn’t get the result that they wanted.

“They are in an awkward position in the league at the moment but the distance between the teams (in the middle of the table) is not a lot so it can change dramatically for them and they can join the top-10 very soon.

“The power of the club is extremely high and the quality of the players and I think eventually they will join the battle for the top spots.”

Villas-Boas is very familiar with Rodgers – the pair having worked together as part of Jose Mourinho’s backroom staff at Chelsea, and admits he has followed his former colleague’s career ever since.

He added: “The first time I came across Brendan was at an FA coaching course when we were trying to get our degrees and qualifications, we didn’t know that our ways would cross paths.

“I saw him again when we were at Chelsea in 2004, when he was there as a youth team coach and he had done really well since then.

“He started his career at the right time, went through a difficult period at Watford. He came strong at Reading and Swansea. He’s in a position which he deserves to be and he has a bright future.”

And Rodgers said he is targeting the European top-tier for his club, citing Tottenham as the template to follow to get there.

The club have not competed in Europe’s top club competition since the 2009-10 season after failing to qualify through the Premier League for the past three seasons.

Rodgers has acknowledged the historical importance of European football and believes Wednesday’s opponents Spurs serve as a blueprint for how to regain their Champions League status in the future.

“Over the course of the summer they (Tottenham) invested something in the region of 55 million pounds net in terms of everything they were putting into the group,” Rodgers told reporters.

“But it is not just in the last window, Tottenham have been building the group steadily and have worked their way up the league to become challengers for those Champions League positions.

“We are trying to arrive in that position and we see what sometimes it takes in order to do that.

“Of course Liverpool want to be in for the top players and top talents and this is a club which will bring those players here.

“But obviously a lot of players want to be in the Champions League so if they want to come in here that is an area we want to get into in the coming years.

“We know we are not too far away and are very close to arriving in that zone that we want to be in.”