'Furious' Ange 'snaps' as Champions League slips away

Aussie coach Ange Postecoglou "snapped" as Tottenham’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League thinned further.

By falling 2-0 at Chelsea on Friday, Tottenham slumped to a second loss to a London rival in the space of four days in the Premier League — after a 3-2 home defeat to Arsenal in the north London derby on Monday.

In between those losses came confirmation that England will have just four places in next season’s expanded Champions League, and not five.

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That’s another blow to Spurs, who are fifth and stayed seven points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa with one game in hand. They still have to play Liverpool and Manchester City in their remaining four games so it is looking increasingly unlikely they will close the gap to Villa.

Postecoglou struggled to hide his emotions during Friday's loss, lambasting his players on several occasions.

"Postecoglou is furious," commentator Gary Neville said during the first half.

"He wants to see a bit more from his team.

"He's having a right go at (Pape Matar) Sarr and he's having a right go at (Cristian) Romero.

"Ange Postecoglou has snapped."

Headed goals by Trevoh Chalobah in the 24th and Nicolas Jackson in the 72nd were enough for Chelsea, which could yet salvage a place in one of the minor European competitions from what has been an underwhelming Premier League campaign for a squad assembled at a cost of more than $1.52 billion.

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Chelsea climbed above West Ham and into eighth place, two points behind Newcastle and three behind Manchester United in sixth. It’s likely that two of those three teams will be playing in either the Europa League or Europa Conference League next season.

Tottenham has now won just one of its past 34 away league games against Chelsea, making it one of the most one-sided top-flight fixtures. The sole victory came in 2018, when Mauricio Pochettino — the current Chelsea manager — was in charge of Spurs.

Tottenham is six points clear of Man United and might have to settle for a fifth-place finish, which would earn a spot in next season's Europa League.