LONDON - Tottenham Hotspur's players are desperate to play in the Europa League, according to forward Son Heung-Min, who feels he is back to his best after scoring the "best goal of his career" on Saturday.
Tottenham's hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages were ended by last month's 2-1 loss at Monaco but they are guaranteed to drop into the Europa League if they avoid defeat against CSKA Moscow in Wednesday's final group game.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino prioritised the league over the Europa League last season but Son said that dropping into the competition will not damage the club's domestic ambitions.
"Of course, we want to play in the Europa League ... we're out of the Champions League, so we want to be in it. For the players, it's better when you get to play games. For me it's really important to stay in the Europa League, in two competitions," Son told reporters after Saturday's 5-0 win over Swansea in the Premier League.
"We're a strong team, everyone can play for everything. It's very important. It's not that if we play in the Europa League we're not top five [in the Premier League]. The top four play also in the Champions League and you want to just keep playing and feel your fitness."
Pochettino has said that Spurs will continue to play at Wembley Stadium in the Europa League and they will be hoping to avoid a third straight defeat at the national stadium on Wednesday night.
"It's very important to play at Wembley, how it's feeling and to thank the fans. It's a special stadium for us, and we're just keeping looking forward to feeling comfortable there," Son added.
Son scored in Spurs' 1-0 win over CSKA in Moscow -- one of five goals in as many games in September, which led Pochettino to describe the 24-year-old as "on fire."
But he then went 10 games without a goal before his spectacular scissor-kick in Saturday's thrashing of Swansea and the South Korea international feels back to best after a minor injury and globe-trotting with his country.
"Best goal for my career I think! I'm really happy to score the goal and get three points," he said. "I've been a bit unlucky with small injuries. I had a little bit of a small injury here and in the national team I also did. I'm really fine now and I'm just looking forward to scoring many and helping Spurs as much as possible.
"Every footballer has small injuries. I think everyone is the same, but every footballer has pain or little injuries. It's about keep working hard.
"I've also been travelling a lot with the national team. Now I can stay until maybe March to play here, training really well and recovering well and I think I feel fresher than in the last two months."