Tottenham boss Conte: If Levy had demanded top four I would've said 'are you joking?' | OneFootball

Tottenham boss Antonio Conte says they're on the brink of pulling off a top four miracle.

The Italian arrived at Spurs in November following Nuno Espirito Santo's short-lived reign and has regularly insisted it would be “a miracle" for his side to secure Champions League football next season.

They are now in pole position to book a return to the premier European club competition though, needing only a point at already-relegated Norwich on Sunday to book their top-four spot ahead of Arsenal.

Conte said that no targets were placed on him by Daniel Levy other than to improve the situation.

“Daniel didn't ask me anything. He asked me only how we want, with me in charge, how we can improve the situation. Not a target," he said.

“But I think he knows very well that I'm an ambitious person and that I want to try in every situation to sit at the top, to fight for this. But he didn't ask me anything. This must be very, very clear because if you put me a target then I know that in this moment it's very difficult.

“It was for sure a difficult period. For sure, if he (Levy) had asked me, 'I want to go to the Champions League', at that moment, to be realistic, I can tell him only one thing: 'Are you joking?'

“This is the truth because we are talking about England, a situation in this league that is very, very difficult, because there are four top teams. If one of these top teams doesn't miss the season, it will be very difficult to go inside.

“At the same time I try to do this because I like to put on myself big, big targets, not minimal targets. I know me, I know myself and I need this challenge to give the best.

“If you remember in the last nine games, before the last nine games, I said now we are ready to fight for a place in the Champions League, we are in this race. I never said this before but I said it was a miracle and I said we must fight for a place in the UEFA.

“But in the last nine games, we understood something had changed in everybody, I put the pressure on myself and I pushed, I put the pressure on my players and we are here to speak about an important target for our club.

“But it's important that the club don't forget the past and what we did to reach this moment because, I repeat, we didn't get a place in the Champions League. We must take the last step and we need to do this."