Andre Villas-Boas on Wojciech Szczesny Tottenham criticism

ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS has laughed off Arsenal star Wojciech Szczesny’s jibe that Tottenham aren’t good enough to finish above them.

Gunners goalkeeper Szczesny claimed Spurs “do not have the quality” to overtake his side this season after the 1-0 win over QPR on Saturday.

AVB however insists the criticism will have no impact on his side’s quest for Champions League football.

And the Spurs boss found Szczesny’s remark a bit cheeky considering the 23-year-old’s status at the Emirates.

AVB said: “He is entitled to his opinion. It is absolutely fine. You don’t expect love from an Arsenal player to Tottenham player. If it touches a bit lack of respect, it is normal in a rivalry.

“I think it would have been a little more tolerable if it had come from a genuine Arsenal fan.

“Coming from an Arsenal player, he is an Arsenal player who is probably only passing by to another club, or who is not going to stay there for life.

“In the end if he means exactly those words from the heart… he doesn’t, for sure.

“I wouldn’t say that an Arsenal fan (player) that has just arrived in that club for the last couple of years is entitled to so much hatred towards Tottenham like he seems to have.”

Spurs head to Chelsea tomorrow in a crunch clash that could be pivotal in the race to qualify for the Champions League.

The two sides are locked in a battle with Arsenal in a battle to finish in the top four, with the fight set to go down to the last day.

TOTTENHAM boss Andre Villas-Boas was not surprised to hear Arsenal star’s damning verdict of his squad

Villas-Boas, 35, was sacked by Chelsea in March 2012 only nine months after they had paid Porto £13million in compensation to bring him back to the club where he worked as part of Jose Mourinho’s coaching team.

The Portuguese, however, insists there will be nothing “special” about the return tomorrow which will be the first since his departure.

He said: “It is a club which I have gone past.

“I have good and bad memories like everyone else, but it was a period which did not finish the way I would have liked.

“Before I was manager there I was in Jose’s team and I had some wonderful years there.

“Probably the ones that I have spent there as a manager aren’t that special, so in that sense, as I have said previously, it doesn’t have that kind of effect on me.

“It is not very, very special.”

Football – The Sun

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