18 May 2024 , 21:30
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Dejan Kulusevski says Tottenham deserve to finish fifth - yet they still believe they're onto something special.
Spurs' slim Champions League qualification hopes went up in smoke on Tuesday when they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City.
Now Ange Postecoglou's men are looking to finish their campaign on a high at Sheffield United as Chelsea are hoping to leapfrog their rivals on the final day.
Kulusevski said: "No games are easy in the Premier League so we look forward to playing a good game and hopefully winning the game. You can reflect how much you want on the season, you can think about every game, every decision, every injury but it's not important.
"You just look at what you can do better, you can't change anything that happened. Yes we played very good games, we played some very bad games also, and now we just go forward. Fifth place is what we deserved in the end, it is what it is. We can do better next year, absolutely, but we built some very good things this year."
Spurs topped the pile in early November before their remarkable 4-1 home defeat at the hands of Chelsea prompted a run of three straight top-flight defeats. Tottenham have since failed to rediscover their early-season consistency and now Postecoglou claims the foundations of his project are in fact "really fragile".
But the players still believe they're on the right track, as Kulusevski explained: "Every good thing in life takes time, nothing is going to happen overnight, nothing is going to happen in one season.
"You just take the good stuff and you learn from the bad stuff that you did this year, and you move on. You keep going. You never lose focus, you never lose sight, you always stay calm and do your best. Then, perhaps, what you deserve, you will get."
The former Juventus winger also paid tribute to inspirational captain Son Heung-min, who has made it his own personal mission to ensure Spurs keep marching forward. Kulusevski said of his skipper: "He's very important. He’s the captain and a great example for all us others. We follow him and we try to help him as much as we can.
Dejan Kulusevski wants Tottenham to finish their season on a high (Vince Mignott/Getty Images)"Everybody has got to take responsibility, it cannot only be the captain. We are growing and learning, and we have to show it more every day and just stay there for the team, even in difficult moments. That’s where you have to step up and help the team always."
Although Kulusevski has recorded his best-ever Premier League goal haul (six) this season, Kulusevski knows there is room for improvement.
He concluded: "Like with the team, there have been very good performances when I have created memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life. And then there was this last month, a couple of games where I wasn’t playing, I lost my rhythm a little bit, but that’s football. I know that I did everything I could this year so I just look forward."