Carlo Cudicini says Spurs are fully capable of saving their season – as long as they rediscover their top form in their final five games.

A campaign which promised so much just two months ago is now in freefall, with a seemingly simple stroll to third place turning into a three-way fight for fourth.

A top-flight tally of six points from a possible 24 was followed by a 5-1 thrashing by Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Sunday.

Spurs now have a season-defining run-in against QPR, Blackburn, Bolton, Aston Villa and Fulham – having beaten all of those sides in the first half of the

season – and Cudicini is urging his team-mates to find their top gear and win all five games again.

“It’s a big test for us, to see how mature we are as players, as a team,” said Cudicini. “We’ve had a difficult second half of the season – we’ve won one game in eight [in the league], which is not the standard that you require to be up there.

“Now we are fighting to be in the top four. We have five games to go and we want to be there, we want to play Champions League football next year, so we have to make sure we stick together and start from Saturday to be on top form again.

“We have to get back to the standard of the first half of the season, that’s the most important thing – because when we play as we can, there’s no-one who can actually give us trouble.”

Emmanuel Adebayor added: “The top four is all we’ve got now. It’s going to be very difficult but we’ve still got five games to go and you have to enjoy it.

“We’ve had a great season together and we have to finish in a good way for the fans. We are footballers, and these are the moments when you see who is focused and who is not focused, and who is a man.

“We’re in a difficult period. We have to show character and we have to show personality against QPR at the weekend, and win there.”

While Tottenham fans are fearing the worst, they will be buoyed by the memories of the 2009/10 campaign, when Spurs lost the FA Cup semi-final against Portsmouth but beat Arsenal and Chelsea in their next two games, and then went on to win at Manchester City to finish fourth.

“That’s got to happen again now,” said Harry Redknapp. “I’ve got to find a team among our group who’ll have the nerve, the willpower and the desire to get that fourth spot.

“We have to go to QPR for a tough game and show we can bounce back from what happened at the weekend. It’s a test of character now – they have to show some character.”

Follow me on Twitter @BenPearceSpurs