Villas-Boas shrugs off Szczesny's Spurs barbs

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas has dismissed Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny's suggestion that Spurs are not good enough to deny his team a place in the Champions League. Spurs, who are currently fifth in the Premier League, face a crucial match at third-place Chelsea on Wednesday, when victory will lift them into the top four at Arsenal's expense. After Arsenal and Tottenham both won at the weekend, Szczesny said Spurs "do not have enough quality" to finish ahead of their north London rivals, but Villas-Boas was quick to play down his remarks. "He is entitled to his opinion. It is absolutely fine. You don't expect love from an Arsenal player to a Tottenham player. If it touches a bit lack of respect, it is normal in a rivalry," Villas-Boas said. "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." Wednesday's game will be Villas-Boas' first match at Stamford Bridge since he was sacked by Chelsea in March last year, but the 35-year-old says he feels no apprehension about his return. "It is a club which I have gone past," said Villas-Boas, who also worked at Chelsea under former manager Jose Mourinho. "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." Villas-Boas' successor, Roberto di Matteo, only lasted until November, despite winning last season's Champions League, while current interim manager Rafael Benitez has been unable to win over the club's fans. The Spaniard has nonetheless lifted Chelsea to third place in the league and guided them to the final of the Europa League, and Villas-Boas said he sympathised with his situation. "He made his frustrations public, which probably gave him an edge to work more comfortably, because people in the end understood their behaviour was also threatening the team's balance," Villas-Boas said. "For any manager who has to go past those frustrations for the fans, it is difficult, so I have great respect for that." Tottenham hope to have midfielders Aaron Lennon (thigh) and Mousa Dembele (hamstring) available against Chelsea, but midfielder Sandro (knee) and centre-backs Younes Kaboul (thigh) and William Gallas (calf) are all out. From: AFP