Former Blackburn Rover striker Jason Roberts believes Tottenham Hotspur could use finishing above Arsenal as a sign of progress this season.
Tottenham are currently 14 points ahead of their north London rivals and with only a handful number of games left, they are in line to finish above Arsenal for the first time in more than two decades.
Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that he doesn’t care about Arsenal’s league position and is only focusing on the title race, but the Spurs fans are eagerly waiting to better their north London rivals ahead of Sunday’s derby.
Roberts believes Tottenham have regularly come up short during the big moments in the last couple of campaigns compared to Arsenal, who have managed to pick up form at crucial junctures of previous seasons to get into the top four.
And the former forward is of the opinion that despite Pochettino’s insistence, he would be able to use it as a sign of progress this season if Tottenham finally manage to finish above the Gunners.
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Roberts said on the Premier League TV’s Football Today programme: “When we talk about their performance in the FA Cup against Chelsea, they came up short.
“When we talk about Arsenal we have seen them consistently at this point of the season see a goal, whether it will be the top four or whatever, and come good.
“We have seen Spurs not do it with the title last season, we have seen them not do it in the FA Cup and now the next thing they have to get, with regards to progression, is to finish above Arsenal.
“While Pochettino can say it’s not our target, they can point towards it at the end of the season and say, ‘what changed for us this season? We came above Arsenal’.”
