Sherwood future uncertain at Spurs

Tottenham manager Tim Sherwood has dodged questions about his long-term future as his side kept alive their outside hopes of a Champions League spot with a 5-1 thrashing of Sunderland.

Emmanuel Adebayor scored twice as Spurs moved up to sixth, five points off fourth place with five games remaining.

Sunderland remain bottom, seven points away from safety, albeit with two games in hand on their rivals.

Reports on Monday suggested Sherwood will be sacked in the summer and the club issued a statement saying they will meet the manager at the end of the season, but that anything else was "speculation".

And the manager avoided the questions, focusing instead on his side's performance and hopes of snatching a top-four place.

"I think the boys were fantastic," he said.

"It was a setback gifting Sunderland the goal and it was a poor error to give them the goal but I think we bounced back well to score and we controlled the game and dominated.

"It's five cup finals for me and who knows where that will take us. I look at my record here and it is (as good as) any manager that has been here under Daniel Levy.

"Any decision or questions regarding my employment you need to ask my employers, it's an honour to manage this football club and I'm honoured to do so."

Adebayor said he had a lot to thank Sherwood for.

"I keep saying it and no matter what happens to the manager I respect him, I'm very happy to be back on the pitch scoring goals," he said.

"He has been a big part of my life, when everyone forgot me he brought me back in and gave me my life back.

"I hope he stays but I am not the chairman, I just need to keep focused on the job in hand and scoring goals."

Lee Cattermole gave Sunderland a shock lead on 17 minutes with his first goal for the club, but Adebayor equalised just before the half-hour mark.

Harry Kane marked his Tottenham debut with a goal on the hour mark and Christian Eriksen, Adebayor again and Gylfi Sigurdsson completed the rout.

Sunderland manager Gus Poyet admitted his side were just not good enough and suggested they need a miracle to survive.

"I think the desire is there but we are missing a few things that are very important in football, the quality in certain moments be it scoring a goal or defending," he said.

"There are plenty of things we could improve but there is nowhere to hide, I am the manager and I take responsibility.

"Sometimes the table doesn't lie. It would be a miracle to stay up, I am realistic if we did not win a game in the last seven and now we need to win four from seven."