Spurs are serious contenders for the title, says Redknapp

BIRMINGHAM: Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp insists his team should be viewed as Premier League title contenders following their victory at Aston Villa.

Rafael van der Vaart’s double was enough to give 10-man Spurs a 2-1 victory at Villa Park with the result moving the Londoners up to fifth and within a point of champions Chelsea, who took on Arsenal in yesterday’s late match.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has already claimed only his table-toppers, Chelsea and Arsenal can win the Premier League this season – but Redknapp, whose team face Newcastle today, thinks otherwise.

“We are massive outsiders,” he said. “We are 33/1 and that’s about right I suppose. But, as I keep saying, it’s open this year.

“It’s not impossible. You’ve got to believe you can achieve something. It’s there for someone to have a real crack at it.

“There is very little between the top five or six teams. We are playing as well as anybody. We’ve got people who could get in any team – Gareth Bale, Luka Modric, Van der Vaart.

“We’ve got some quality players throughout the team. A good squad. We want to get in that top four again. That’s the main aim – Champions League football again.

“If you have a good run you don’t know where it will take you. It’s happened before.”

Spurs lost Jermain Defoe to a red card in the first half for an elbow on James Collins and Redknapp said of the incident: “I haven’t seen it since, but at the time I didn’t have any arguments.

“I certainly wouldn’t say I think he (Defoe) would go at the player intentionally though. Maybe it was just a little centre-forward’s challenge. The referee is a good referee, but he had a bad game.”

Van der Vaart, who also scored twice against Villa in October, was delighted to make such an impact on his return from a month out with a hamstring injury.

“It’s always a difficult game, they have a very good team,” he said. “It was a very good win away with 10 men.”

Villa manager Gerard Houllier remained upbeat despite daunting back-to-back trips to Manchester City today and Chelsea on Jan 2 awaiting his struggling 15th-placed side, who have lost four of their last five league games.

“I think it was a poor result, but not a poor performance,” the Frenchman said.