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.

According to our old friends at the Daily Mail, Spurs have opened talks with club captain Ledley King over a new contract to replace his current one which expires at the end of the season. The report also suggests that the player will reject a pay as you play deal although it seems to offer no claim that this is the type of contract that the club is offering.

Since the transfer window came into force during the 2002-03 season, Spurs have been one of the most active clubs in terms of players arriving at and leaving White Hart Lane.

After a fairly quiet window by their standards – signing trio Yago Falque, Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen all on free transfers, let's take a look at seven players signed for big money during the January period.

Sky TV were quick to give the champagne to Scott Parker last night and while it's hard to argue with that assessment, were there other, more worthy candidates at the heart of Spurs defence?
Speaking after the game, TV pundit Gary Neville pointed to a previous ‘soft centre' in the Tottenham side which would have seen us lose a match like that in the past and that's why he agreed with the Parker decision.

Yes we can! The JimmyG2 Column A fantasy or a nightmare, I can't decide. Dear Daniel,. Just an informal thank-you on behalf of the 'Scheduling Committee' for your co-operation in the 'five goal thriller' as the tabloids would have it, on Sunday. We extend our thanks to Mr.Bale and Mr.Defoe for contriving to miss the late goal in such a convincing manner which had it been scored would

The great irony here being that if it was Peter Crouch, it 100% would have gone inFootball, the great reducing force in all our lives. If Jermain Defoe had stretched for that Bale cross just a millisecond earlier, we'd all be headed to work this morning without that overbearing sense of melancholy that you're probably still feeling.

szólj hozzá: Man City v Tottenham 3:2 MOTD

The first half was as dull and dragging as the Utd vs Arsenal match. The second half was just the opposite - a high voltage pulsating encounter between 1st placed City and 3rd placed Spurs. Roberto Mancini's squad went ahead in the second half through Samir Nasri and Joleon Lescott, both goals within minutes of each other.

As we are all aware, Emmanuel Adebayor will be force to sit this one out but is it a simple case of bringing in Jermain Defoe as a straight replacement. Could Harry accommodate Pavlyuchenko in a 4-4-2 or even play five across the midfield tomorrow.

The other issue surrounds club captain Ledley King who may be a bigger doubt for the game than was suggested earlier in the week.

We all know that Harry likes to throw Ledley King into the big occasions if he possibly can and if there is a remote chance of the club captain being fit for Sunday's match with Manchester City, you can be fairly certain that the manager will use him.

The early prognosis on King's troublesome Hamstring was grim and it was expected that he would be out for another six weeks at least but after responding well to intensive treatment, he could make the final cut.

Michael Dawson declared that he was delighted to be back in the fold after his contribution helped Spurs to a 3-0 win over Cheltenham at the weekend. However the news was tempered with reports that club captain Ledley King has suffered yet another injury setback.

"It was great to be out there playing again," said Dawson after the match.

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.

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.

Barmy Balotelli video, Liverpool target Arsenal star and Redknapp casts doubt over Ledley King's future

Looking back at the best of talkSPORT.co.uk in 2011 with the most popular stories from March

View the full story here: Talksport

A news article on 2011-12-24 08:02:10 from: Talksport

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

What a game of football it was last night. Tottenham dominated the first part of the game, Chelsea then got back into it, Spurs had to make a change to their formation and Chelsea dominated and should have won the game but then Spurs could have nicked it right at the end. It had everything!.
Both teams would be happy to take a point away from this one and both would feel as though they should have won it!

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.

Although the claims that Ledley King is something of a ‘lucky charm' may be slightly exaggerated, it's no co-incidence that his return to the side has seen Spurs climb the league table and into their current third place.

The chronic problems that prevent our club captain from training and lead to frequent absences are well documented but the importance of Thursday night's game could see him take the field in a midweek match for the first time in over a year.

Harry Redknapp has a few injury concerns ahead of Sunday's game with Stoke but the extra day could give Ledley King, Jermain Defoe and Gareth Bale the time they need to get fit.

There is cover in place for King and JD but Harry will certainly be reluctant to take to the field without Bale, who is back to his best and scored both goals here in our 2-1 win last season.

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!

Canada Drugs

Now that England are safely through to the Euro2012 Tournament Finals in Poland and Ukraine next summer, and that their Group opponents have already been finalised, I thought it timely to decide who might be in the squad for the June kick off against France in Donetsk.

THFC1882 presents Siva's guest report on yesterdays action:

Tottenham: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, Gallas, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (van der Vaart 72), Parker (Livermore 85), Modric, Bale; Defoe, Adebayor

Goals: Bale 7, Lennon 50, Defoe 61

Well that was easy.

THFC1882 gives a debut to Siva who previews the Bolton game for us. Siva has been a Spurs fan all his life and as the man puts it himself he was born with lilywhite in his vains! The first game Siva remembers was when he was 5 or 6, Ledley King (or Mr Spurs for Siva) is his favourite player and he likes a drink in the Bell and Hare pre match.

The name of Jan Vertonghen was mentioned on here a few weeks ago but it seemed at the time that Spurs' real target was Bolton's Gary Cahill. However, stories emerging from Holland are adamant that Tottenham have agreed a £10m fee for the Belgian international and that the deal will be rubber stamped when the transfer window opens next month.

Tottenham Hotspur has played 12 matches thus far this season, winning 9, drawing 1, and losing 2. Ledley King has ushered the Spurs defense through 8 of those games, with one other in which he was taken off after the ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article

December is always an important month in the Premier League, as the lead up to Christmas hands all teams a frantic and testing fixture build-up, and gives an inclination into how the season will shape up. Spurs have impressed so much that a top four finish is being overlooked in favour of the a potential title contenders tag; a number of difficult games will test Harry Redknapp's men over the next month.

There is always a collective crossing of fingers whenever Ledley King takes to the pitch these days but so far the club captain has enjoyed a largely injury free start to 2011-12 by his standards. He needs to play 20 games in order to guarantee a new contract at the end of the season and if he stays in good enough condition over the next few weeks, he could be well on course to hit that mark by the end of the year.

Having just defeated the World Cup holders, Spain, and then Sweden, their bete noire (Sweden were undefeated against England for almost half a century, until Tuesday evening), England have gone nine matches without defeat. Fortunes are good, expectations are up, possibilities are endless. England beat Spain without Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Steven Gerrard and then they beat Sweden with Bobby Zamora, Stewart Downing and Theo Walcott in attack and Jack Rodwell and Phil Jones in midfield.

Various XI's isn't there for us to pick out our favourite footballers of all time, it's there make us struggle. This week we set ourselves the task of picking eleven footballers with the surname 'King' to fill out a team sheet. GK:Bryan King Thought by most Millwall fans as The Lions best-ever goalkeeper .

Charlie thought eating Luka would prevent him leaving Spurs
Maybe it's the many, many years of crushing disappointment but, a decade or so ago and beyond, the international break seemed far more exciting. England were preparing for tournaments we thought we could actually win by finishing second in competitions like 1995's ‘Umbro Cup' – who could forget Tottenham hero Darren Anderton's stoppage-time-woodwork-pinball-volley against Sweden – or triumphing in ‘Le Tournoi', a trophy made famous largely by Roberto Carlos's other-worldly free-kick against France.

Ledley King has been speaking to the press this week about his own future and the expectations of his club for the 2011-12 season. King hopes that it will be Spurs that mount the biggest threat to the Manchester sides this campaign.

"I hope we can become the biggest challenger to the Manchester teams," King said in the Evening Standard.

Tottenham Hotspur defender Ledley King is committed to maintaining the club's terrific form and confidently believes that there is enough quality within the squad to challenge league leaders Manchester City and reigning champions Manchester United.

King, who has overcome many injury problems to become involved in a stretch of fixtures that has witnessed his side win seven of their last eight top-flight matches.

'The more I practice the luckier I get ' The JimmyG2 column For over 20 yrs from the mid fifties Fulham's Chairman was the comedian Tommy Trinder. He was President of the club until his death at 80yrs old in 1989. His catchphrase, 'You lucky people', could no doubt be heard resounding around the great Stadium in the Sky on Sunday night after his beloved team, though themselves no mugs on

Tottenham have more immediate concerns than the Europa League. Their manager Harry Redknapp's health, usurping Arsenal and Chelsea as the top team in London and qualifying for next season's Champions League. Why, though, is the Europa League so far down their list of priorities?

Having stumbled to a victory against Rubin Kazan at White Hart Lane, despite resting the majority of their first team players and consequently playing poorly, Tottenham decided to rest even more players for the away fixture against Rubin Kazan.

William was fooling no-one with his 'steady hand' display.By Jamie Dunn
The Europa League may not be at the forefront of everyone's thinking at White Hart Lane this season, but while Harry Redknapp is unable to attend Thursday's game against Rubin Kazan due to his recovery from minor heart surgery, William Gallas has presented him and the Tottenham faithful with reason to watch events in Russia with added interest.

It's hard to believe sometimes but club captain Ledley King has been with Spurs since 1997 and in all his time at White Hart Lane, he has hinted that this current squad is the best he's seen.

"It is showing in the results. It is not just the eleven players on the pitch; if you look at the substitutes' bench, it is scary how strong the squad is," King said.

THFC1882 present a guest report from Rob:

Spurs team: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Parker (Sandro 86), Modric, Bale; VDV; Adebayor

Goals: Spurs Bale (20, 72), van der Vaart (33). QPR Bothroyd (62)

TheLilywhites go marching on with their sixth win in seven league games as they deservedly toppled the Super Hoops at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Spurs welcome back Steven Pienaar and William Gallas for Sunday's clash against QPR while it's also felt that Brazilian Sandro is fit enough to make a claim for a place in the starting line up.

"William is not going to train today, but he's trained all week and will train again tomorrow," said Harry Redknapp early on Friday morning.

THFC1882 welcome's back Rob with a guest preview of Sundays game, keep an eye out for his match report too!

Sunday 30th October 2011, White Hart Lane. 4pm Kick off Live on Sky Sports 1HD,1 and in 3D

The mighty Lilywhites take on their West London rivals, QPR, at the Lane on Sunday a day before Halloween, hoping to continue to give Spurs fans a treat rather than trick.

An injury crisis stripped the club of William Gallas, Michael Dawson, Ledley King and Vedran Corluka leaving us to field what was practically our only available back four yesterday, but two-goal Rafael van der Vaart was quick to praise our defence's contribution.

"When you score you're always in the headlines, but I think the defenders were amazing today.

THFC1882 presents guest writer Ralph Dixon's match report:

Chickens 1 2 Cockerels

The previews for this match, the chat on Twitter and the fan forums were all spot on and the match hardly needs a report from me at all. You Spurs fans know it in your hearts already, even if MOTD manage to edit their highlights to give a different impression.

THFC1882 present Gareth Johnson's reflections on Spurs draw at Newcastle:

They say time is a healer, hence me writing this review having had a small period of reflection. We nearly had them. It was nearly the perfect victory. It nearly made me smug. It just about devastated me.