Paul Merson has just completely changed his mind over where Tottenham will finish this season

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Tottenham Hotspur will make their long-awaited return to Premier League action at 3pm this Saturday.

Spurs last played on 17 February, and things didn’t go their way as Ange Postecoglou’s charges lost 2-1 to Wolves.

Now, Tottenham will host fellow London side Crystal Palace at N17 and will hope to claw back some points in pursuit of a top-four finish.

As things stand, Spurs are fifth in the table, five points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa but with a game in hand on the Villans.

Paul Merson, writing on Sportskeeda, has now changed his mind over who he thinks will seal top-four between Tottenham and Villa.

Just a fortnight ago, the pundit backed Spurs to finish above the Villans, though he acknowledged that things can change quickly in football.

Now, Merson believes Villa have what it takes to land a Champions League spot over Tottenham, who he thinks are too weak at the back to get over the line.

“I think Manchester United are a million miles off the race for a top-four spot at the moment, so it’s between Tottenham and Villa,” said Merson.

“At the moment, I think I’ll go for Villa to secure UEFA Champions League football next season as Spurs are too open at the back for my liking.”

Tottenham, Aston Villa and Manchester United all in with Premier League top-four shout

We’ve got an exciting top-four race on our hands this season as three teams are all in contention for that final spot.

Villa, Spurs and Man United are all in with a shout, and with how open the league is, there could well be a lot more musical chairs in the coming months.

With the Red Devils facing a dominant Manchester City outfit at the Etihad Stadium this weekend, it could well knock them out of the top-four race, barring a huge upset.

Tottenham will be raring to go and make amends after losing all of two weeks ago, and though Palace ran out 3-0 winners over Burnley last time out, it’s still a winnable game at home for Spurs.

Villa are away at Luton Town, a very tricky team especially on their own turf, so it’ll be interesting to see how things pan out in the top-four race at the end of match-week 27.