Spurs will be 'best of the rest' again, below the Champions League positions, if they win their last two games of the season, starting with Thursday's clash against Blackburn when Defoe will be hoping for a starting place.

Jol appears to favour Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov for big games, although Defoe has netted 17 times when given his chance during the campaign.

"Other players who I won't mention would make a decision for themselves but he hasn't," Jol said.

"He's a team player and knows he played such a big part this season, he's scored nine league goals and didn't have all the starts, although Robbie Keane had less league starts."

Defoe, Keane and Berbatov have 60 goals between them this season, with Spurs racking up 100 in total.

Three cup runs have given Jol the opportunity to utilise his strikers - Mido has also scored five goals but has struggled with injury - and rescheduling games has put Spurs in the driving seat for Europe in the final week of the season.

"It's an unbelievably good position, nobody realised over the last two months that we had a game in hand," Jol added.

"People said Tottenham are so-so, but I knew if we win this game we would be in the top six again. Along with all these matches in Europe it would be a fine achievement.

"Nobody realised we were in a good position, so we surprised a few people again."

Jol highlighted the difficulties in competing on four fronts, compared to last season when they almost finished in the Champions League places but only played in two cup-ties.

Jol added: "We're not fifth yet but how many teams outside the top four clubs do well in Europe and well in the league?

"There is not one over the last four or five years, even Everton played in the Champions League and were not as good as they could be in the league.

"That is how tough it is. It's not easy, so we could easily be in problems but we are not and that is a good compliment for us."

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