The big news ahead of this evening's game is that Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon are back in contention and with Rafael van der Vaart ruled out, both could play from the start.

"Jermain has trained okay in the last couple of days and Aaron Lennon as well, he's coming back, he's looked sharp," said Harry on Friday.

While Harry continues to dominate the headlines there's the small matter of our Premiership fixture against Newcastle United on Saturday evening as Spurs prepare to welcome their boss back into the dugout.

Normally at this stage of proceedings we have an injury update and the club will be sweating on the fitness of a number of players including Jermain Defoe, Rafael van der Vaart, Younes Kaboul and Aaron Lennon.

THFC1882 present a match report by Anthony Lombardi

Liverpool and Tottenham: Both Clubs Fail to Dare and To Do.

Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur drew 0-0 at Anfield, in a tight Premier League encounter that neither team wanted to lose, or seemed determined enough to try and win.

Pepe wished he hadn't pulled Gareth's finger
Monday night was not Gareth Bale's.
While a 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield is a good result for Tottenham, and the match itself was arguably one of the better stalemates you're likely to see in terms of energy and commitment, it is a game Bale might soon wish to put behind him.

Spurs assistant manager Kevin Bond revealed that Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe remain as major doubts for Monday night's clash with Liverpool. Both players have been struggling with hamstring injuries and while the timing of the game gives them an extra chance to recover, it looks as if both will miss out.

In amongst all the transfer rumour chaos there's a Premier League game to be played tonight and according to Spurs' assistant Joe Jordan, there are a few injury worries ahead of the game with Wigan.

Jordan revealed new doubts over Jermain Defoe and Aaron Lennon, both of whom have picked up fresh hamstring injuries in the last few days.

Eden Hazard, one of the most desirable transfer targets in world football at the moment, says he is not moving this January. Definitively. Moving this coming summer, however? That's on fo sho. To England? Why yes, actually.

Excuse me while I shit my pants with potential excitement.

Seeking a new challenge in the summer

Hazard spoke to Canal+ today and shed some light on his current situation.

Osi for the Giants...

When the New York Giants take on the the San Francisco 49ers this Sunday, it will be a battle of the defensive ends that is a key to determining the outcome, positively or negatively, for both teams.

For the Giants, a return of a healthy Osi Umenyori to support Jason Tuck and Jason Pierre-Paul on the outside means that the Giants can consistently collapse the pocket from the flank, contain lateral runs, and basically wreak havoc.

By Richard Nash

Tottenham's victory over Everton last week left them level on points with Manchester United and three points off league leaders Man City, confirming their position as genuine title rivals to the Manchester clubs. Much has been made of the additions of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor as a reason for the club's success, but the biggest change since last season has been the use of their wingers, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon.

Benoît Pierre David Assou-Ekotto, or Mr Consistency to a growing number of Spurs fans always scores well in our polls but did his performance last night finally secure our man of the match award?
BAE's most telling influences on the game came in attack with the raking diagonal ball that set up Aaron Lennon and the pile-driving second half strike that doubled his tally in a Spurs shirt.

Like the child whose parents have surreptitiously removed their much-loved comfort blanket in the night, we woke this morning missing the precious consolation of a game in hand, and soon discovered that we can manage perfectly well without it. For some it provided a welcome safety net, for others the promise of future delights.

By Chris Wright

Tottenham went level on points with second-placed Manchester United in the Premier League pile last night, after goals from Aaron Lennon and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (a 30-yard stonker he doesn't score often, but when he does... etc, etc) afforded Redknapp's rabble a comfortable 2-0 win over Everton at the Lane a 14th victory from 20 league outings.

Spurs duly won their game in hand last night with goals from Aaron Lennon and a stunning 30 yard strike from Benoit Assou-Ekotto that completed a 2-0 win and saw the club go level on 45 points with Manchester United.

After the match, Harry Redknapp hailed a great win and emphasised that he finds it a joy just to watch Tottenham at the moment.

Tottenham Hotspurs are continuing their pressure on the Manchester Duo in the top of premier league table after Harry Redknapp's side successfully defeated Everton 2-0 on Wednesday.

The victory excites Redknapp as with all three points, his team are now level on points with second place, Manchester United, and only three points shy of the leader, Man City.

szólj hozzá: Tottenham H. 2-0 Everton

Benoit Assou Ekotto's spectacular 30 yard strike continued a tradition of Spurs long range bombs in recent times - Danny Rose, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Tom Huddlestone, Kyle Walker, come to mind. The first goal came from Aaron Lennon, cutting past Leighton Baines, after the left back completely missed clearing a long diagonal ball from Ekotto, and then shooting past the diving Tim Howard.

Tottenham vs Everton 2-0 Highlights 2012 Lennon Assou-Ekotto Goals Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Tottenham vs Everton 2-0 Highlights 2012 Lennon Assou-Ekotto Goals Video is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Tottenham vs Everton 2012 ( Spurs v Everton 2012 video below) Final score and result:- Tottenham vs Everton 2-0 ( Aaron Lennon, Benoit-Assou Ekotto) White Hart Lane, London- 11 January, 2011- Wednesday- 19.

So finally this much-vaunted "Game in Hand" is upon us. Truth be told, I will be a little sad to see it go. It has practically become part of the family, like a scruffy, uncouth urchin discovered in the wreckage of the summer riots, and adopted by the cheery folk of White Hart Lane. And let's face it, this Game in Hand has proved more useful than the Sword of Omens when it comes to pointless bickering with fans of l'Arse, Chelski, Liverpool and the like.

The big news to come out of White Hart Lane this week surrounds Scott Parker who remains extremely doubtful for tonight's clash. Speaking yesterday at his press conference, manager Harry Redknapp said,

"Scott is struggling," said Harry. "He's doubtful, in fact, he's very doubtful.

"We've one or two injuries.

Spurs enjoyed a comfortable enough win over Cheltenham in the third round of the FA Cup on Saturday and manager Harry Redknapp was quick to praise many members of the side. While Aaron Lennon and Michael Dawson returned from injury, Niko Kranjcar impressed in a rare start and Jake Livermore also caught the boss's eye as he filled in at right back.

Liverpool is making progress on establishing grounds to negotiate a deal for Birmingham City winger Nathan Redmond, who is being valued at £10 million by the midlands club.
Redmond has 2 years remaining on his current deal at St. Andrew's, but has recently attracted interest from Manchester City and other Premier League clubs.

It's a depleted side that will step out on the park to face Cheltenham in the FA Cup tomorrow but we do know that Michael Dawson and Aaron Lennon will play at least.

Elsewhere, injuries and loan departures mean that Harry will pick from whoever is available, while looking for a chance to rest some of his more influential players

It's great to have Michael coming back, he's been out quite a while now," said Harry Redknapp about tomorrow's likely skipper.

Spurs were already in the midst of an injury crisis when Brazilian midfielder Sandro limped out of action on the half hour mark of yesterday's win over West Brom. The news got worse as Sandro's replacement Jake Livermore left proceedings after a clash of heads with Younes Kaboul.

The situation has left the club with few right sided options in midfield with Scott Parker nursing a knee injury and Tom Huddlestone a long term absentee.

There are injury concerns over Scott Parker ahead of tonight's match with the Baggies but our midfield general is just one of a host of players that Harry may take a chance on this evening. It's thought that both Ledley King and Aaron Lennon are in with a chance of returning to the side tonight as Harry looks to put a bit of impetus back into Spurs' league campaign.

It has often been the case this season that Tottenham have had to leave out the likes of Sandro and Jermain Defoe, simply because we have had eleven players performing at an impressive and consistent level. With both Emanuel Adebayor and Rafael Van der Vaart in great goal scoring form, Defoe has repeatedly had to rely on injuries to come into the team.

Sir Alex Ferguson has begun his psychological war games. The Manchester United manager has said that Tottenham are the best team at the moment. Of course Sir Alex Ferguson was talking about Britain and not Europe, after all, as good as Tottenham are they are probably not quite yet at Barcelona's level.

A couple of days ago, I happened to comment on Twitter following Man Utd's 5-0 thrashing of Wigan at Old Trafford and Man City's 0-0 away draw with West Bromwich Albion, that the title was now down to a two horse race as both Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool had failed to beat either Wolves, Fulham or Blackburn respectively.

Apologies for the tardiness – AANP Towers has been overrun by tiny people the last few days...

And it had all begun so well. Our lot spent the opening minutes pinging the ball between themselves with such dizzying rapidity that the only time a Chelski touched the thing in the opening ten minutes was that lad on halfway, who was promptly crunched by Sandro, releasing Bale to release Adebayor for our goal.

Several senior Spurs players are currently struggling with hamstring injuries and that could lead to an early move in the transfer market when the window opens next month.

Ledley King, Younes Kaboul, Aaron Lennon, Rafael van der Vaart and Jermain Defoe all have similar problems and after enjoying a settled side for so long, Harry now has a major selection headache ahead of the festive period.

For the first time in many games, there are far more questions to deliberate ahead of predicting the starting XI for tonight's match.

As we all know, Aaron Lennon has been ruled out of this game while Gareth Bale remains a major doubt. There are question marks too over Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Third meets fourth on Thursday in the English Premier League. The home side, Tottenham, are on a ridiculously good run where they have garnered 33 points out of the last 39 available. That means they have moved from a precarious position in the early part of the season, near the bottom of the table after damaging defeats against Manchester United and Manchester City, to the loftier position of third.

While Aaron Lennon is definitely out of tomorrow's match with Chelsea, Gareth Bale is also rated as very doubtful for the clash.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the game, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp gave his comments on how the two wide men are progressing and the news on Lennon is a little more encouraging than first thought,

"Gareth's struggling at the moment," reported Harry.

Terry and Cole recreate a scene from 'Blades of Glory'

For many years - too many to mention - Tottenham simply could not beat Chelsea. Yes, there was the 5-1 victory at White Hart Lane in the 2002 League Cup semi-final, when everything clicked an even Sergei Rebrov scored, but in the Premier League up until 2006, it just would not happen for Spurs.

'Tis the season, for snatching a stocking full of points at White Hart Lane.

Hey, it's that guy

Man. This is kind of big, huh?

Win, lose or draw in Wigan over the weekend, this match with Tottenham was always going to be a pivotal one. Not that matches with Spurs aren't always showcase events, but this season the derby seems to be taking on a bit more weight with both clubs in the pursuit of Champions League football for 2012-13.

With the loss of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon on Sunday, Spurs lost much of the potency that had helped them climb the Premiership table and into third place.

Ultimately we won the game but if you saw a brief but apt Match of the Day package on Sunday night, you'll have seen where Bale in particular, was sorely missed.

It's a mixed bag of news this morning with regards to the three players who suffered injuries over the weekend as they battle to be fit for the Chelsea game on Thursday.

Speaking on Talksport, assistant manager Kevin Bond insisted that neither Bale nor Defoe would be risked if they weren't fully fit while it seems that Aaron Lennon can definitely be ruled out after suffering his hamstring tear.

It wasn't pretty. On a cold December Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur saw off a resilient Sunderland to record a 1-0 victory and get back to winning ways in the Premier League.

Winning ugly is the sign of champions. Not getting carried away here, I'm not suggesting Spurs are going to win the title, there's a chance of it, but Manchester City are a scarily good outfit and their neighbours are impossible to write off.

The Sunderland fan on the train has low expectations but he's loyal and a long way from home on a cold Sunday afternoon. Spurs have more points, better players and better prospects but he has his devotion to his club, a precious commodity these days for any any fan as far as I'm concerned, so he expresses this in the time-honoured fashion: 'Where were you when you were s**t?

After a disappointing week the only thing that really counted yesterday was a win. The absence of Bale and the early departure of Aaron Lennon took away much of our flowing football and potent threat and while Sunderland offered little in the way of goal scoring chances, the 1-0 victory wasn't one of our best.

By Alan Duffy

Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Sunderland Premier League 18th December 2011

They may have started the game without the crocked pair of Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe and lost Aaron Lennon after just 27 minutes, but Harry Redknapp's in-form Spurs side still had far too much left in the locker for the visiting Black Cats.

Am I dreaming? If I am long may it continue! everyone's buzzing with positivity and we have our beloved Spurs back. I'm no longer looking across London and asking ‘why can't we play like that' or bemoaning the fact that we can't we grind results out like United.

From front to back we are functioning as a top class team; Brad Friedel is showing us that life begins at 40!