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Kane: Spurs must win last two games to keep Europa League hopes alive

Harry Kane celebrates against Newcastle

Harry Kane has warned his Tottenham team-mates that anything less than six points from their remaining two matches will likely result in them missing out on European football next term.

Spurs claimed a 3-1 win at Newcastle United on Wednesday to move them up to seventh, which would be high enough to secure a spot in next season's Europa League, assuming the FA Cup is won by a team already certain of European qualification.

Sheffield United could move back above Spurs when they play their game in hand on Thursday, though their opponents – Leicester City – are also in the mix, meaning at least one European hopeful will drop points.

With the Premier League then heading into its final two rounds of matchdays, Jose Mourinho will hope Spurs are primed to take full advantage of any slip-ups – particularly given Champions League qualification is still a remote possibility.

And Kane has told his colleagues they must assume anything other than two wins against Leicester and Crystal Palace will see them fail.

"[Beating Newcastle] was a massive win," he told the Spurs website. "We said before, 'Three games, it has to be three wins if we want to be in with a shout of reaching the Europa League.'

"Arsenal was a big win for us and that gave us momentum coming into these final three games. Every game is tough, and it's been an up-and-down season for us, especially our away form, so we knew it was important to get the three points and thankfully we did.

"Now, some of the teams around us have to play each other, so we'd imagine two more wins and we should be in the Europa League places, but we can only take care of ourselves and see what happens. It's a massive game on Sunday [against Leicester] now."

Kane scored twice in the win at Newcastle to reach 201 career goals at club level and, while he insisted it is not something he will dwell on, he did acknowledge it felt good to receive recognition for remaining consistent despite having some injury issues in recent seasons.

"It's a nice milestone to hit but as always when I'm told about these milestones, it's always on to the next 100 or 200," he added. "It's gone quickly – I've been a professional now for eight or nine years and it just flies by.

"In the last couple of years I've had a few injuries as well, and they've kept me out of quite a lot of games. [Scoring 20 goals per season] is a nice, consistent level I'd like to keep at and I'm happy to do it again this season. Two more games to go, let's see how many more we can get."

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