Tottenham looking to finish ahead of Arsenal in EPL for first time since 1994-95 when they play Newcastle on Sunday

TOTTENHAM’S last game of the season against already-relegated Newcastle is far from a dead rubber for the North London side.

TOTTENHAM’S imminent new stadium has been 15 years in the making, requiring patience and flexibility, but there was one non-negotiable - it had to be bigger than the one six kilometres down the road.

When the new $790m stadium is unveiled in 2018-19, the capacity will be merely 568 greater than Arsenal’s 60,432 Emirates Stadium, but bigger nonetheless.

So anyone thinking Spurs’ last game of the season means nothing now that Leicester City has claimed the Premier League title is badly mistaken.

Tottenham striker Harry Kane celebrates scoring against Bournemouth at White Hart Lane in March.

Having never topped Arsenal on Arsene Wenger’s watch, Spurs can finish above its bitter north London rival for the first time since 1994-95 and secure its highest league placing since 1963.

Arsenal, two points behind, hosts woeful Aston Villa, but Spurs’ hopes have been enhanced with opponent Newcastle relegated midweek and Tottenham needing just a point due to its superior goal difference.

The closest Spurs came was in 2005-06, when a dodgy lasagne was claimed to have given almost the entire team a stomach bug on the eve of its last game of the season, with a loss to West Ham allowing Arsenal to overtake it.

The Harry Redknapp’s high-flying team blew a 10 point lead over the Gunners in 2011-12, before Andre Villas-Boas squandered a seven-point advantage the next year.

The feel-good factor is alive and well for Melbourne-bound Spurs with highly-rated manager Mauricio Pochettino who yesterday signed a five-year contract extension.

There was strong interest in the Argentine from Manchester United and the rumour-mill went into overdrive during the week when he was picturing dining with Sir Alex Ferguson in London.

Spurs boast the youngest squad in the Premier League, led by euro 2016-bound England stars Harry Kane (22), Dele Alli (20) and Eric Dier (22), and the new 61,000-seat stadium and already built state-of-the-art training centre will give Spurs a greater chance of retaining them.

While titles and Champions League soccer _ guaranteed for next season _ are the goals, the Gunner-Spurs rivalry is impossible to ignore though Pochettino uncharacteristically snapped when asked if Tottenham would finish higher.

“I don’t care about Arsenal, I want to win the league, I want to be on top. Arsenal, I do not care about,’’ Pochettino said.

Juventus and Atletico Madrid, Tottenham’s MCG opponents for July’s International Champions Cup, are also key players in the final weeks of the European seasons.

Juve has an unassailable nine point lead from Napoli and will officially claim a record 33rd and fifth successive Serie A title, overcoming a shocking start to the season.

Atletico is focused on the Champions League final against Real Madrid in a fortnight, after last week’s La Liga loss left Barcelona and Real (one point and six goals behind) to tussle it out for domestic honours in the final game of the season.

However it finishes, the Melbourne public can be certain that Europe’s heavyweights are coming.

Originally published as Tottenham looking to finish ahead of Arsenal in EPL for first time since 1994-95 when they play Newcastle on Sunday