After Tottenham's dour performance against Stevenage in the FA Cup, Harry Redknapp joked that the club's showing may not have helped his chances in the race to become England manager. One more televised game later and maybe that joke has a serious side to it after all.

The press have just started to pick up on this issue with the suggestion that Stuart Pearce is now in pole position and a decent showing in this week's friendly against the Netherlands could advance his case even further.

It's not been the best of weeks for Scott Parker but after his sending off at the weekend, our midfield signing's mood will have been lifted with news of the latest in a long line of awards.

Despite only cementing his place in the national side last season, Scott has picked up the Vauxhall England Player of the Year as voted for by England supporters.

Reports over the weekend linked Tottenham to their long term target Jan Vertonghen and he had some complimentary things to say about the club which sparked off another set of media rumours commenting on a possible summer transfer.

Vertonghen is a Belgian international, currently playing for Ajax and has been mentioned at times in the press as being a long term successor to Ledley King.

Spurs have recalled Adam Smith from his loan spell at Leeds, ostensibly to provide cover for Kyle Walker who has withdrawn from Stuart Pearce's England squad because of an ankle injury.

As I write there is no confirmation on the Spurs website but the official Leeds portal had this to say,

"Tottenham defender Adam Smith has been recalled from his loan spell at Elland Road in order to provide cover at right-back for the Premier League side's first team.

Tottenham's Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart has hit the headlines for two reasons today in the wake of Spurs' 5-2 defeat at the Emirates on Sunday. Firstly, Rafa ruled his club out of the title race and at the same time, it was announced that he will miss Holland's friendly international with England this week due to an ankle injury.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp blamed it on a ‘bad day' as the club surrendered a two goal lead at The Emirates. Harry also admitted that he was a little puzzled by the defeat and couldn't quite explain how it had all happened.

"Even at 2-0 I couldn't say I felt over-comfortable," Redknapp told Sky Sports.

For Spurs fans the last thirty years or so have seen them sit uncomfortably in the shadow of their holier than thou north London rivals.

Particularly galling for the Lilywhites must have been the last 15 years as Arsene Wenger guided their bitter rivals through a golden period of success on the pitch, whilst they made do with a solitary Carling Cup triumph.

From starting the week with something bordering on an injury crisis, Spurs are almost at full strength for tomorrow's clash at the Emirates and that raises plenty of questions about team selection.

Ahead of the game, Harry gave us an update on those returning to full fitness.

"Luka went down with the flu and Adebayor had a knee injury, hopefully they will be okay," said Harry.

At the start of the week, injury concerns were held over from Sunday's game at Stevenage after Adebayor, Modric and BAE were all late withdrawals. At the time, Harry was concerned for this weekend's match but as the week has progressed, many of the doubts seem to have eased.

Firstly, Rafael van der Vaart announced that he was winning his own fitness race before Ade tweeted that he also expected to return.

The Luka Modric affair last summer highlighted the difference in wage structures between Spurs and some of our Premiership rivals and while the club has gone on to show the Croatian that he is better off from a playing point of view where he is, that structure may still need to be addressed.

When Kyle Walker returned to Spurs at the end of his loan spell with Aston Villa, he came back with a reputation as a marauding full back with a keen eye for goal but maybe with some question marks over his defending.

As we reach the last third of the season, Kyle is unchallenged as our first choice right back and while he won't be happy that BAE is currently outscoring him this year, Walker's lone strike undoubtedly mattered most in securing a 2-1 win over Arsenal earlier in the campaign.

Just under a week ago the Spurs official website was heaping praise on Andros Townsend after his goal and all round contribution helped Leeds United to a 3-2 win over local rivals Doncaster. However, news today confirms that the winger has returned to the club with a cry of ‘good riddance' from Neil Warnock ringing in his ears.

One of the tricks of the transfer rumour mills seems to be to find a big money potential signing and then follow that up with a cheaper alternative should the main target fall through.

Just like Eden Hazard, Omar El Kaddouri is 21 years old. He also plays in midfield and he is a Belgian international – albeit at under 21 level for now.

It's already been a big year for Cameron Lancaster after he made his first Spurs appearance as a late substitute in last month's 3-1 win over Wigan. Yesterday, the 19 year old striker upstaged his new team mate Bruno Uvini by nailing a hat trick in a Spurs XI 7-3 win over Leyton Orient.

Tottenham's other goals were scored by Massimo Luongo who has also seen the first team bench in recent weeks, plus strikes from Will Ekong, Simon Dawkins and Cristian Ceballos.

It should be an exciting run in to the end of the season with Spurs hoping to cement a third place finish at the very least and the TV companies are certainly anticipating an interesting month this April.

All of Tottenham's weekend fixtures have now been moved to allow for SKY or ESPN and the revised schedule reads as follows,

Sunderland away is now Saturday, April 7 kick-off changed to 12.

At the start of the week, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp painted a rather grim picture of injury issues in the Tottenham squad but after Rafael van der Vaart declared his readiness for the Arsenal game on Sunday, Emmanuel Adebayor has also announced that he hopes to be fit to face his former club.

It will certainly solve one injury headache for Harry if Rafael van der Vaart comes back into the squad for Sunday's game against Arsenal and the Dutchman himself has claimed that he is winning his battle to regain full fitness.

VDV has been missing since limping out of the 3-1 win over Wigan at the end of last month but he told the Independent today that he expects to be fit for Sunday.

Tottenham's ploy of playing two wing backs in the 0-0 draw on Sunday was negated somewhat by the state of the Stevenage pitch but could this be a useful formation for Harry to consider in the future?

It marked an odd departure for a squad that seems to play 4-5-1 whenever Rafael van der Vaart is fit and 4-4-2 otherwise and it may have been influenced by the injury to BAE.

When Louis Saha netted twice on his Spurs debut in the 5-0 win over Newcastle he went some way towards silencing the critics who had expressed their surprise at Tottenham's late transfer window move for the Everton striker.

On Sunday it was Ryan Nelsen's turn to make his first start for the club and his display in the 0-0 draw at Stevenage drew praise from his defensive partner Michael Dawson.

With yesterday's FA Cup tie quickly glossed over and forgotten for the time being, attention has already turned to Sunday's North London derby with news that Tottenham's injury problems are getting much worse.

Yesterday saw the return of last year's match winner Younes Kaboul but that was about the only piece of good news amidst reports that Luka Modric, BAE and Emmanuel Adebayor are all doubts for next Sunday's clash.