TOTTENHAM boss Antonio Conte told his side to “feel the blood” of their top-four rivals after a potentially decisive weekend in the race for Champions League qualification.

After Manchester United and Arsenal both lost earlier in the day, Son Heung-min’s sensational hat-trick and a fine Dejan Kulusevski strike earned a 4-0 win against Aston Villa that sent Spurs three points in clear in fourth.

It could not have been a bigger statement from Conte’s side and they will now be favourites to finish the job, having won six of their last seven Premier League games.

“It was a great win for us, it wasn’t easy. But a great win, especially when you play a game after the games of your rivals in the race for the Champions League and they lost,” the Italian said.

“Wolves, Manchester United and Arsenal. We had to show in this moment that you start to feel the blood of your opponent and it is important to not fail.

“For this reason we are working a lot on the mentality. The players are giving me great satisfaction in many aspects.”

Despite the scoreline Spurs did not have it all their own way and could have been out of the game at half-time had it not been for Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal.

After Son’s early opener, Villa were all over Tottenham and had 14 shots, with the Frenchman saving seven of them.

Tottenham’s deadly front three showed their killer instinct after the break as Son completed his treble and Kulusevski also bagged.

Boss Steven Gerrard, whose side have now lost four games in a row, said the first-half performance was the best of his tenure.

“First half… best performance we have had together in the first 45 minutes,” he said.

“I can’t remember many times through my football career where I have been so proud and happy going off a pitch 1-0 [down].

“I thought we created enough chances to win more than one football match, but we didn’t execute.

“I was scratching my head going off how we we were losing that game 1-0.

“I thought the second goal was a real blow for us. It was real quality from Tottenham’s point of view, but defensively it is extremely poor. The third and fourth goals were no better on the eye.”