Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane believes Tottenham fans will be hoping he can knock out his former club’s fierce rivals Arsenal in the Champions League – despite a Gunners victory actually helping Spurs.

Tottenham’s Champions League qualification hopes took a big dent over the weekend after their 4-0 defeat at Newcastle saw them slip out of the top four into fifth place.

Yet fifth spot could be enough to qualify for next season’s Champions League if the Premier League earns one of the two extra places available through UEFA’s coefficient system, which is decided on performance in Europe this season.

But England’s top flight (16.750) is currently missing out on an extra spot with Germany narrowly ahead of them in second (16.785), while Italy (18.428) are all but assured of a place.

An Arsenal victory over Bayern Munich in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final – which is finely poised following the 2-2 first-leg draw – would significantly improve England’s chances of securing an extra place in next season’s competition.

It leaves Spurs fans in an awkward position over whether they should be cheering on their arch rivals against Bayern.

When questioned about potentially hurting Spurs’ chances of Champions League qualification with a win over Arsenal, Kane joked: “I don’t really know how to answer that!”

But Tottenham’s all-time leading scorer believes his former fans will be wanting him to help end the Gunners’ pursuit of a first European Cup.

He later added in the pre-match press conference: “Of course I know there will be a lot of Spurs fans watching hoping Bayern Munich go through tomorrow night.

“I can’t focus on that. All I can do is try and beat the team in front of us, and that’s Arsenal.”

Kane: Bayern season a failure without Champions League win

Kane admits the season will be a failure if Bayern Munich do not win the Champions League.

Bayer Leverkusen romped to the Bundesliga title at the weekend, ending Bayern’s run of 11 straight league trophies and leaving them with only Europe’s highest honour to play for.

While Kane has excelled individually, his wait to win a team trophy after more than a decade without one at Tottenham could well continue.

The England captain said: “Of course every player, every club wants to win trophies, that’s the ultimate goal every season, but there’s a process into winning, there’s a process individually and in the team.

“You want to improve as a player every year, you want to show the world your capabilities and you want to push yourself to the very limits and you hope that helps with the team.

“Of course, from the club’s point of view it will be a failed season if we don’t win anything this year because we’re expected to win but all we can do is take that into next year and try and turn that around.

“The main thing for us is we still have an opportunity to turn this season into a great season if we win the Champions League. That motivation is still there and as players you can only hang onto that. If we can do something special tomorrow night then of course that keeps that hope alive.

“It’s a time to raise our game, it’s a time for me and the players who have been in big situations, pressure situations, to step up and be counted. It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere. There’s a lot of expectation but I think there’s a good belief among the squad that we can achieve something tomorrow.”

State of play: The race for the extra Champions League spot

The quarter-finals of this year’s European competitions are only at the midway point, but England’s hopes of pipping Germany in the race for an extra Champions League spot look set to go down to the wire.

The Premier League still has a 57.8 per cent chance of claiming the bonus Champions League spot, according to Opta. However, those chances have been declining, plummeting 13 per cent after last week’s results.

With Germany and England neck-and-neck in that race, each win, draw and qualification for the next rounds is huge.

Each win is worth two coefficient points, a draw gets you one, and you get nothing for a defeat. There are also bonus points for getting to certain stages, so if Borussia Dortmund overturn their Champions League first-leg 2-1 deficit to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, that will give Germany a further bonus point in their ranking.

Tottenham and Aston Villa fans will be watching closely in the hope Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid can do them a favour.

Victories for Bayer Leverkusen and Atalanta over West Ham and Liverpool respectively in the Europa League this week could also prove crucial in the coefficient race.

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On a dramatic Super Sunday where Arsenal and Liverpool’s title challenges were significantly dented, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says the Gunners must show what they are made of against Bayern Munich – and feels Jurgen Klopp’s side have “overachieved” this season.

Manchester City ultimately proved the big winners on Sunday after Liverpool were beaten 1-0 at home by Crystal Palace before Aston Villa scored twice in the second half to win 2-0 at Arsenal.

City are two points clear of both their title rivals at the summit, and Neville admits it now looks “ominous” for Arsenal and Liverpool with six Premier League games left to go this season.

“It was a really bad day (for Arsenal and Liverpool),” Neville said on the Gary Neville Podcast.

“It can happen, you can lose football matches, but you’re up against perfection. And when Liverpool had City at Anfield, and when Arsenal I felt had City at a potential weak point in that game at the Etihad, I just feel they needed to win to move the mountain, because you can always lose a game.

“I’m really surprised by Liverpool at home to Palace, I’m really surprised, although they have had a difficult week. The game for Arsenal was a lot more difficult and they played with a really good performance level in the first half.

“But it feels a little ominous, it feels a little inevitable that the Manchester City, Pep Guardiola machine rises to the top with a few games left. They are going to be very, very difficult to stop – that’s an understatement.

“It’s a painful one for Arsenal. I don’t know how they recover. It’s a big question mark as to how they recover before Wednesday now (and the Champions League second leg away in Munich). I’m not saying they won’t, and I hope they can because it is a cup competition. But the Allianz is a fierce place and they will be heading into it a little bit down.

“But this is what I wanted to see. I wanted to see Arsenal 12 months on, we wanted to see Arsenal with Saliba in the team, with Havertz and Rice, their big-money signings in the team, and they are still there. Now we will see what this Arsenal is and what they are made of. Because they are made of a lot stronger stuff than last season.

‘Arsenal are not out of the title race’

“You have to trust them (to recover from this). They have to call upon last season’s experiences – they weren’t in the Champions League last season, but they were in this position where they would get beaten in games that they thought they would win.

“They dropped points that people didn’t think they would, and now it is about how you get back on the bike because they are not out of the title race. It’s going to be tough because of Manchester City and what they are but it is how they recover.

“You can finish second to this Manchester City team but it is about how you finish second. Last season we know how they finished second. This season, if they finish second or even third if Liverpool somehow get up there as well, then they have got to make sure they do it in a better way. Now it’s about how they get back on the bike and how they recover in the games and the weeks to come. They’ve got to prove that to themselves.

“I’m intrigued, now I want to see how they react. They were always going to lose a game, they may even go out of the Champions League against Bayern in midweek. They may, but then how are you the following weekend, how are you in the north London derby? Big weeks ahead for Arsenal, lots to look at and lots to be interested in. It’s all eyes on them in the next week or two.”

Neville: ‘Monumental’ Klopp has overachieved this season

Defeat at home to Crystal Palace caps a dismal week for Liverpool after they were beaten 3-0 by Atalanta in their Europa League quarter-final first leg at Anfield three days earlier.

But despite some disappointing recent results, which also included a nail-biting FA Cup defeat to Manchester United, Neville thinks Klopp and his Liverpool side have done well this season.

“If you look at Liverpool, no one expected Liverpool to be anywhere near,” Neville said.

“If you said that Liverpool would be two points off Manchester City with five or six games left to go, I’d be like ‘no chance’.

“This is a monumental achievement I think for Jurgen Klopp, for them to be where they are. I said it before the international break and a few Liverpool fans had a go at me, but I felt like they were hanging on. I just felt like they were hanging on for dear life with emotion, with it being Klopp’s last season.

“And then when they went out of the FA Cup to Manchester United, there was this narrative that now the FA Cup has gone, now we can concentrate on Europe and the league, and after the Europa League result, now we can concentrate on the league.

“It’s not happening like that, but I still think Jurgen Klopp is getting the very best out of this Liverpool team and this Liverpool squad – and what we are now seeing is probably what they are, and they have overachieved to this point.

“I think Arsenal have looked really smooth in the last couple of months and City have started to look really smooth as they always do. Whereas with Liverpool, you felt they were always the scruffy one of the three, yet they were hanging in there, calling upon the emotion of the Anfield crowd and Jurgen Klopp’s last season. Calling upon other things, other factors.

‘Reality-check’ for Liverpool

“The last few weeks have become a little tough for them but this is more than par for Liverpool where they are. I think this is par for Arsenal, this is where we thought they would be after the large investment but I don’t think anybody expected them to be so close to City at this stage of the season.

“It was a bad day for them and maybe a bit of a reality check. The FA Cup has gone, maybe Europe has gone and now maybe the Premier League title has gone – and Jurgen Klopp’s last season is going to potentially end up with the Carabao Cup.

“But they are only two points behind City and they are likely only to be concentrating on the Premier League. And they can be dangerous because they have got that something in them, Klopp has got something in him that can garner a response.

“They have been the ones that have beaten City in the last five or six years. They are still in it, but there is just a feeling that they are careering along the road a little bit.”

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Paul Merson believes Arsenal’s Premier League title chances are “100 per cent” over with Mikel Arteta admitting his side face a “big test” following Sunday’s 2-0 home defeat by Aston Villa.

Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League for the first time since 2004 were dealt a huge blow by former boss Unai Emery, whose Villa team scored two goals late on to claim an impressive victory at the Emirates.

The Gunners would have returned to the top of the Premier League with a win and were even handed a boost before kick-off when Liverpool slumped to defeat against Crystal Palace.

But Arsenal’s shock loss to Champions League-chasing Villa has once again handed the initiative to Manchester City, who are now two points clear at the summit after thrashing Luton on Saturday.

While there are still six games to play, Merson thinks his former side are now out of the race.

“For me, it’s gone – 100 per cent,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s completely turned on its head now. Man City put pressure on them by playing first and they couldn’t handle it. But take nothing away from Crystal Palace and Aston Villa they were absolutely outstanding.”

‘Arteta picked the wrong team’

Arteta made three changes to his side following Tuesday’s 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard replaced Jakub Kiwior, Jorginho and Gabriel Martinelli as Kai Havertz moved into midfield. It was a decision that left Merson slightly perplexed.

“I said before the game I didn’t like Arteta’s decision with the team he picked.

“Keep on playing the same team that wins every week, don’t have the wool pulled over your eyes for a 25-minute cameo against Bayern Munich. Jesus comes on and does well and he moves Havertz.

“They’ve won nine of 10 with Jorginho and Havertz playing where they were. It was a bench today that if it wasn’t going right, he didn’t have anyone. Usually, you have [Leandro] Trossard and Jesus to come on.

“He did it against Southampton last season (3-3 draw at home) when he left Jorginho out last season. The pressure gets to everybody. That’s where you need a Pep Guardiola who keeps cool.”

Arteta: The moment is now | ‘We have to react’

While Merson was pessimistic about Arsenal’s title chances, Arteta believes his side are still in the mix but insists they have to react – starting against Bayern in the Champions League on Wednesday.

“We can’t control [Manchester City]. What we can control is that when we have the run we had when you win, win, win, win, it’s easy. The moment is now. After this blow, it’s how we react. Now it’s a big test for us,” Arteta said.

“We have the best opportunity to react against Bayern Munich. The team has to show it. If you want to win, you have to overcome these situations.

“With the games we had, this was going to happen. It is now about how we react. This is in our control.

“In any other league in the world, if you won the number of games in a row that we did, you would be six or eight points clear. That is not the case here. That is the challenge.”

The Gunners missed several chances in the first half before their lack of composure in the final third was eventually punished late in the game by Leon Bailey and Ollie Watkins.

Emiliano Martinez producing a sensational save to deny Leandro Trossard from close range was a standout moment but Arsenal struggled to get going after the break.

“Two very different performances. The first half was superb, one of the best halves we have played against a top team. It should have been three or four – or more,” Arteta said.

“We didn’t put that score line up and didn’t reflect that second half. We lacked momentum. We didn’t have the flow we had in the first half and then we conceded two very, very poor goals.

“Credit to them, in the second half we were a bit unprecise with the ball, we weren’t able to do what we did in the first half. In the end we lost it so we have to congratulate them on the points.

“When you are at this level, you have to punish them, it is not like you can do that for 90-95 minutes against a top opponent.

“If you can’t do that then at least don’t concede. We couldn’t do that.

“We have to be more patient in the second half to find our moments. We were trying to do that with the changes but that’s when we conceded.”

Neville: Arteta must stop the balloon from bursting

Sky Sports’ Gary Neville at the Emirates:

“It feels a huge day in this season’s title race. A wonderful second half from Villa, Emery and all his players. They were outstanding. They completely turned the tables, they played and they played and they played – and wore Arsenal down.

“Arsenal didn’t seem to have the answer. A big, big job now for Arteta this week to make sure that isn’t the balloon bursting on this season.”

What’s next?

Arsenal travel to Bayern Munich for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday; kick-off 8pm. The first leg finished 2-2.

Their next Premier League fixture is live on Sky Sports at Wolves next Saturday; kick-off 7.30pm.

Aston Villa visit Lille for the second leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final on Thursday; kick-off 5.45pm.

Villa then return to Premier League action at home to Bournemouth next Sunday; kick-off 3pm.

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Paul Merson believes there is no way back for Arsenal in the title race following their 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at the Emirates.