Andre Villas-Boas targets wins over rivals

Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas wants the club to continue their recent improvement in form with consecutive victories over their top-four rivals.

Spurs have bounced back from their 6-0 rout by Manchester City a fortnight ago with a draw against Manchester United, and then away wins over Fulham and Sunderland.

The Lillywhites host Liverpool at White Hart Lane next Saturday and then travel to Southampton the following weekend, both teams who have aspirations of qualifying for the Champions League, and Villas-Boas has urged his players to pick up positive results to cement their position near the top of the table.

He told reporters: "Now we have Liverpool at home, Southampton away, so again teams that are in the frame with us.

"Important for us – if you want to keep ourselves near the top – to have a result against Liverpool, so this enables us to be in touching distance with them, and hopefully we can do just that on Sunday against them."

Spurs face Anzhi Makhachkala in the Europa League on Thursday, before Liverpool's visit to North London.