Tim Sherwood
Tim Sherwood has taken Tottenham to Europa League qualification, but will it be enough to keep his job? Reuters

Tottenham have qualified for the final European place on offer in the Premier League with the side set to join Everton in the Europa League next season after defeating Aston Villa 3-0.

Spurs went up 1-0 against Villa within 14 minutes thanks to some brilliant play from Gylfi Sigurdsson, Harry Kane and Paulinho, with the latter finding the back of the net to take the side to an early advantage. 20 minutes later they doubled their lead, with Emmanuel Adebayor taking too much of Nathan Baker's attention and causing the defender to score an own goal off Danny Rose's pass.

Before the first half finished Gabriel Agbonlahor handled a shot from Sandro, bringing on a penalty which was converted with complete class by Adebayor. The rest of the game was a cruise for Tottenham who will now participate in the Europa League for the third year in a row.

Tim Sherwood, who brought some humour to the final game of the season by bringing a fan onto the pitch and handing him his jacket and manager's seat, said that qualifying for Europa League would mean a successful end to a season for a Tottenham side that has had more downs than ups.

He explained before the game: "I will be guaranteeing to our fans that I will be selecting a team that want to play for Tottenham in this last game and want to be playing in the Europa League next season.

"I think that is hugely important for a club like Tottenham. Everyone aspires to be in the Champions League but we know how difficult it is to actually achieve that.

"We've got a big squad of players and when they're all fit, they need a games programme and I think the Europa League gives them opportunities to play games, keep themselves mentally prepared and physically ready.''

Tottenham's biggest threat to a European place was Manchester United and although the side drew with Southampton in Ryan Giggs' final match in charge as manager it wouldn't have been enough if they had won with Tottenham's victory.

Spurs have finished sixth in the table with 66 points, one win ahead of United in seventh.