BusterPhillips
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Silly season again, twitcher has a couple of good results and suddenly think they can win the league. Also slags us off, basically saying were over rated!
By Jeremy Wilson
Last Updated: 6:27AM GMT 22/11/2011
Harry Redknapp has boldly claimed that Tottenham Hotspur will overhaul Manchester City and end their 51-year wait for a league title if they can uphold their current form.
On his return to the dugout following heart surgery, Redknapp was bullish after seeing his team sweep aside Aston Villa and record their eighth Premier League win in nine games and move within range of the two Manchester Clubs.
Asked if Tottenham Hotspur could now win the title, Redknapp said: “It is a possibility. It is not impossible. I don’t want to say that we are going to win the league as everyone will get carried away but it is not impossible. If you believe in yourself and keep winning games you are going to do it.
“We are on a real good run and if we continue the form that we are in now we will win the league. That will be very difficult. The top six is so tight. Chelsea, Manchester United and City will be there.
“Arsenal are playing well and have come back. Liverpool had a great performance at Chelsea. I don’t think there’s a lot between the six of us.
“If I’m being honest the top four will come from Man City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and ourselves.”
Tottenham were beaten 5-1 by Manchester City shortly before the closure of the summer transfer window and Redknapp thinks it would be a very different match if the two teams were to play now.
“That wouldn’t happen again,” he said. “We’re a much different team to the one we put out that day. I’m not saying they wouldn’t beat us, but I couldn’t see them coming here and beating us by five.
“You saw them [City] at QPR and QPR could have beaten them. I would not say that they on a different planet to everyone else.
“They had a great result at Man United and here. They will not go through the season unbeaten — I don’t think that they are that good. They are a very good team and worthy favourites, above Man United at the moment, but I would not say that they are certainties to win the league.”
Redknapp watched his team dominate with 70 per cent possession last night against Aston Villa and, although he returned to the dugout against doctors orders, said that he felt better than before his operation.
“The doctor told me not to come back for four or five weeks but I didn’t take a lot of notice,” he said.
Redknapp had only actually been absent from one league game but, after watching the 3-1 win against Fulham on television, he opted for the White Hart Lane dugout rather than the sofa at his sea-front Sandbanks home. Less stressful, apparently.
“I enjoy watching us play football - that’s the best medicine for me.
“I love watching us. Some of the stuff we play is top drawer. There are lots of good teams around the world and we play like one of them.”
Redknapp, though, said that it was vital for Tottenham to now keep their best players, specifically Luka Modric and hopes that the Croatia midfielder will soon agree a new contract.
“I just love him,” said Redknapp. “You’ve got to keep him here. There aren’t too many Luka Modric’s who come along.
“If we’re looking to be a big club, and the chairman showed that in the summer, I’m sure we’ll stick by him and look after him by getting a new contract sorted out.
“A lot of [other] pros would have got themselves out of the club. If someone offered you £150,000 a week they would have caused trouble and been a nightmare.
“If someone pays you £150,000 or whatever, then if they pay you £40,000 or £50,000 what is more attractive to you? I am sure that the chairman will look after him and do a new contract with him. You’ve got to look after him.”
Bale agreed with Redknapp’s title assessment. “We’re a team who want to keep progressing every year and if we do that, it’s going to come to a point where one year we’re going to have to win the title,” said Bale. “Whoever comes to White Hart Lane now, we expect to beat them.
“We’ve got a great squad, which is also quite a young one, so we can grow together and the belief that we can achieve something is very great.”
Alex McLeish, the Aston Villa manager, was clearly furious with some of his team’s defending and bluntly said that his half-time team-talk was not for publication.