Adebayor tells Spurs to be more ruthless

Unless Tottenham win at Norwich tomorrow and at Swansea on New Year's Eve they can forget about qualifying for the Champions League, according to Emmanuel Adebayor.

Spurs are third in the table – and boosted by the news that forward Rafael van der Vaart's hamstring injury is not as bad as first thought – but with London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea close behind, Adebayor knows they must be ruthless in the League. "Now we have played all the big four, we have to play Norwich and Swansea away," he said.

"If you want to be in the top four those are the types of games that you have to win home or away. We have to do what it takes to win those games. Otherwise, forget it."

Adebayor, on a year's loan from Manchester City, scored in last Thursday's 1-1 draw with Chelsea and said Spurs should take heart from drawing with a title rival. "Five or six years ago we know what would have happened [against Chelsea], which means, the club is going forward and we are improving," he said.

Van der Vaart is set to face Norwich after a scan showed no tear to his hamstring after he was taken off at half-time against Chelsea. "I think he probably had a bit of cramp in there where he's had a problem before," said manager Harry Redknapp, "a bit of tightness he felt maybe might go, so he took the precaution of not playing on with it."