Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said there was no time for parties after securing European football for the third consecutive year, with the Champions League their objective.
Villa beat Bournemouth 1-0 in their last Premier League match to seal a place in Europe next year, but in which competition they are involved, it still has to be decided.
The Villans are in the table in the table in the table against Tottenham Hotspur this Friday, level at points with the fifth placed Chelsea, who occupy the last Champions League ligplace.
And while Emery looked forward to another season in Europe, the Spaniard strives for the club to build on their quarterfinals in the Champions League this year.
“Not a party of course. We have something to celebrate, but we have challenges for us. It's not in our hands, but we can push other teams by winning,” Emery said.
“Today we have Europe. I appreciate it to play in Europe. How we can develop playing in the Premier League and in Europe is fantastic.
“The club and the owners, and everyone at Bodymoor, everyone knows how to increase our process and achieve the goal.
“This is the challenge I have, to always develop our process and to be demanding. And how we can compete better.”
For Spurs, their attention can now drive to their upcoming Europa League final, which takes place on 21 May against Manchester United in Bilbao.
This luminaire would originally take place on May 18, but was pushed forward to allow Spurs the same amount of rest as their opponents in the showpiece competition.
The Premier League-Elingle van Spurs remained the last time-out and lost their 20th league match of the season after a 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace at home.
Ange Postecoglou relates to how he wants to juggle with Spurs' Premier League matches with their upcoming Europa League final prior to their journey to Villa Park this week.
“Part of it is normal staff and when you put together teams, it is a sum of all parts that make it effective and when you make so many changes,” Postecoglou said.
“It is always inconsistent, and you can't play with the same kind of fluency and rhythm. If you look at our back four in Europe, together with Vic, the reason I think it works so well is that they all supplement, they all fit in the pieces.
“We have speed, we have the power, we have technical skills, we have the calmness we need, so it has fallen into each other and that is why I think we look so effective.
“The same with our front three and midfield, you are always a bit looking, while when you just put 11 players in the park, we are all very good and capable, but there are elements that are missing where they do not complement each other when they are there.
“So it doesn't allow you to play in the same way and don't let you look so fluently, but again, that is the situation we have been. Yesterday we didn't really reach the levels in one of our football, whether it was our press or with the ball and I think it was the effect of the changes we made.
“I also think it was emotional for the whole group on Thursday, and we clearly returned on Friday morning. We didn't play on Friday, what we usually do.
“So the preparation was limited and all things like that. They are not apologies, but they are reasons why the boys may not do not at the levels we wanted to want.”
Players to watch
Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins
Watkins scored his 75th Premier League goal in the past time -out against Bournemouth and became Villa's highest goal scorer in the competition.
He wants to score 10 at home for the first time in the same top season (currently nine), although none of his three goals against Spurs has come to Villa Park.
Tottenham – Dominic Solanke
Solanke has exerted more pressure (1,198) and more of the ball that the opposition box (290) driven into than any other player in the Premier League this season.
He also has an impressive record against Villa and scores against them four times, his joint against every opposition in the top flight (level with Newcastle United).
Match forecast: Aston Villa Win
Villa has won three of their last five Premier League matches against Tottenham, although they have lost the last two. They are more victories than they have known in their previous 21 against Spurs (W2 D3 L16).
The Emery team is also unbeaten in their last 20 home games in all competitions (W14 D6), with the Villans last having a longer run between September 1976 and May 1977 (24).
Since the beginning of March, only Newcastle United (22) has indeed earned more points in the competition than Villa (21), in which the Villans won seven of their eight games at the time (L1).
Spurs, however, enjoyed recent trips to Villa Park and won eight of their last nine visits to the West Midlands (L1). Only against Manchester City (12) did they win more Premier League matches than they have against Villa (11).
Tottenham also won their final -way competition in each of the last four campaigns, on average four goals per match in these competitions. Their last such defeat, however, came the last time that their final-EX match was not their general last match of the season (0-1 V Bournemouth in 2018-19).
But in the 17th, Tottenham is desperately looking for a victory for increasing trust before their Europa League final. They have only won one of their last 10 Premier League matches and defeated the bottom side Southampton 3-1 in Apri.
They also admitted in each of their last 11 league matches, their longest run without a clean magazine since a point of 17 between August and December 2010.
Opta wins probability
Aston Villa – 66.6%
Drawing – 17.5%
Tottenham – 15.9%