Casual lobotomy is one of my less typical weekend pursuits, but I'm willing to hazard that were one to pluck out the respective brains of BAE and Scott Parker, the two would be as dissimilar as medically possible. At one point in the second half yesterday I'm fairly sure Benny executed a scorpion kick, seemingly just to pass the time.

All had been quiet on the Luka Modric front until the end of last week when Spurs midfielder and Everton loanee Steven Pienaar made comments to the press suggesting that Tottenham would have difficulty in holding on to their Croatian genius once the season comes to an end.

It's worth looking at the South African's quotes in full,

"Luka is a top player for Spurs and if he leaves it is hard to say what will happen there," Pienaar told the Sunday Mirror.

While the emerging transfer stories dominate the headlines there was the small matter of a 3-1 win over a poor Wigan side last night. No prizes for guessing the man of the match although Luka Modric would have run two goal Gareth Bale close with some intricate passing and a stunning goal of his own.

Tottenham vs Wigan 3-1 Highlights 2012 Video Goals Bale McArthur Modric is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Tottenham vs Wigan 3-1 Highlights 2012 Video Goals Bale McArthur Modric is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Tottenham vs Wigan 2012 ( Spurs v Wigan Video Below) Final score and result: Tottenham vs Wigan 3-1 ( Gareth Bale*2, Luka Modric/ J.

Well, what a day in the old Anglais de Premiero that was. (Pretty sure that's a flawless translation) Barely had we put on a pair of trousers that could be deemed fit for public display was Fernando Torres and his new chums doing a hilarious job of not beating Norwich at Carrow Road.

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Luka Modric firmly believes that his side can win away to league leaders Manchester City this Sunday despite the hosts having a perfect record at the Eastlands this season.

Modric, who endured a shaky start to the campaign due to being distracted by a potential move to Chelsea, has rediscovered his form of late and after scoring in the Spurs' 1-1 draw against Wolves, he is approaching the clash with City with a strong mindset.

After enjoying a great run of results against Manchester City in recent years, the last two league games haven't exactly gone our way and although Sunday's opponents have struggled a little in recent weeks, the Etihad will be a tough place to go and get a result.

There is a great belief in this current Spurs side however and Luka Modric is one player who is targeting an upset this time around.

Luka says that's one for definite Harry. We like a theme over here at The Musings as you may have noticed. And while most of you are still surfing on cloud nine after Wednesday let me lay on you something which has stood the test of time: 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch'. Or to put it another way: don't cackle if you haven't laid.

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.

After witnessing Manchester United defeat against Blackburn Rovers for our New Year's Eve match, I would touch on another significant matter to the football world, the opening of the transfer window....
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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.

Luka Modric, perhaps the stand out performer of this English Premier League season so far, has said he might leave Tottenham during the January transfer window, although he is more likely to reconsider his position at the end of the campaign. The speculation began when Luka Modric's agent suggested that his client might leave Tottenham in January because "in football anything is possible".

Many a time and oft my Spurs-supporting chum Ian has peddled the theory that Gareth Bale should be shoved right up the top, through the middle, and play as an out-and-out centre-forward. Outlandish it may be, but last night actually provided a glimpse of how the world would be run if Ian were King.

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.

From fears of relegation to hopes for a top four finish, and from passive defensive football to pass and move thrills, the 2010-11 season almost ended perfectly for Liverpool after the rockiest of starts. But almost isn't the same as getting there, and the world rarely conspires to provide the ideal, storybook ending that might be hoped for.

By Chris Wright

Time to lighten the mood. Given that Marc Albrighton notched the Premier League's 20,000th goal last night, it seemed only right to put together a little video compendium of ten of the best most hideously ugly goals ever to have been scored over the course of these 19-and-a-half glorious seasons.

Crunch time. This one could not be much bigger if it were written in size 72 font, stretched in a rack and then injected with muscle-steroid-type-things by that Russian giant of a chap David Haye beat a couple of years back. It's not just the three points, which would give us a five-point platform from which to wave down at Chelski, with a game in hand.

Tonight's game with Chelsea has unfortunately raised the issue of Luka Modric's future once again but manager Harry Redknapp has been quick to claim that the influential Croatian is going nowhere.

Luka appears to have put an unsettled August behind him and while he hasn't appeared at his best in the club's last two league games, he is generally at the heart of our most creative football.

We'll touch on the latest news surrounding John Terry's current predicament very soon. For now, though, we focus on the massive contest at White Hart Lane. I don't think I'm overstating when I say this is going to be kind of epic.

Team news and the like from 2:45pm EDT.

With Luka Modric and Juan Mata taking most of the attention ahead of this one tomorrow night it's important that we do not forget the other midfield battle that will take place around them. Last week against Sunderland, Sandro and Scott Parker patrolled Spurs' midfield while Meireles, Frank Lampard and Oriol Romeu patrolled Chelsea's.

'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 Europa League out of the way, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is free to loan some of his fringe players from the squad and Jake Livermore in particular is attracting interest from elsewhere in the Premiership.

"We're not going to let any of the players that we want to keep go in January, but I'm going to let some lads go out on loan," said Redknapp.

What has two thumbs and couldn't be more desperate to leave?Hold tight comrades, this is the serious shit now. Rejuvenated Sunderland came to the Lane on Sunday with a cunning plan to further derail our campaign after the damage inflicted by Corporal Pulis' Stoke Taskforce the week before (ably assisted by rear gunner Foy, it must be said).

Three more points, and all comfortable enough, but this being AANP Towers, and we being Spurs fans, I react to third place in the festive season not by praising our heroes, but by flagging up areas for improvement.

Specifically, I do beseech our heroes to make life a bit easier for all concerned by walloping opponents out of sight once in a while.

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.

By Chris Wright

You may be aware that, in glorious 20-20 retrospect, Tottenham were fairly hard done to against Stoke yesterday. The Potters ran out as 2-1 winners, but it turns out that Spurs were denied by a couple of goal-line handballs, had a man sent off rather softly and saw an Emmanuel Adebayor goal disallowed for offside despite Marc Wilson playing him on by a couple of feet.

Sitting down to type when one's lip is literally still quivering with rage must surely be ill-advised, but how else to express sheer, undiluted incandescence? Here at AANP Towers we are generally loath to criticise the officials, since their job is jolly difficult, their mistakes are always honest and frankly I imagine that to a man the players make many more errors per game.

As we all know AVB is planning a clear out starting in January and continuing next summer after the club confirmed that transfer requests have been accepted from Alex and Nico Anelka. Over the weekend stories also broke that AVB is prepared to listen to offers for Drogba, Kalou, Bosingwa and Ferreira.

Poor corporate oversight here. Meant to get this up on Saturday.

TSG's celebrated peanut gallery: Waldorf, Statler, and...I don't know Beauregard got together via email on Friday to toss out one-liners and multi-liners from the balcony on the Euro 2012 draw. It was TSG's Serie A expert and Italian national team expert Eric Giardini, joined by Ronan Quinn writing from Newcastle on Ireland.

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.

RIP Gary Speed

For a few hours on Saturday, Tottenham were second in the Premier League, until Phil Jones scored the only goal of a turgid affair between Manchester United and Aston Villa.

But if Spurs continue to turn in the sort of sumptuous performance that secured a 3-0 win against Bolton at White Hart Lane on Saturday and a sixth successive Premier League win, what's to say Harry Redknapp's side can't flirt with the highest reaches of the top flight for at least a little while longer?

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.

Well what a relief that that has been cleared up. Apparently the Defoe goal was disallowed because of a foul committed by Pavluychenko in the fixture played back in Greece in September. Or perhaps for a foul by Graham Roberts in our '84 UEFA campaign. Or maybe it was Mackay back in '61. Well, whatever the incident, it was definitely a foul.

Desperately sad news about Gary Speed - RIP

Within a day or two it will inevitably be swallowed within the black hole of wondrous statistics about just how darned good the current crop are (best start to a season since the '61 Double-winners, since you ask), but the win at West Brom has muscled its way into AANP's exalted list of Most Hard-Earned and Pleasing Little Gaggle of Wins This Season, or "MHEPLGWTS" as we like to call it for ease of reference.

Luka Modric has been all but silent since the close of the August transfer window ended any talk of an immediate move to Chelsea. Since then, Spurs have emerged after a shaky start to head up the table into third, overtaking the Stamford Bridge side on the way.

After the Villa game however, where Luka edged the man of the match award ahead of two-goal Emmanuel Adebayor, the Croatian spoke about the team's form and the challenges that lie ahead.

Rafa clearly believed in the power of his groin a little too much"Pay your tax, my lord, pay your tax," the Aston Villa fans sang to Harry Redknapp, to the tune of 'Kumbaya', during the second half on Monday night. Within seconds, the home crowd replied in near unison with: "2-0 down, my lord, 2-0 down, oh you're 2-0 down.

There's a rumour circulating this afternoon that Spurs are looking at making an approach for QPR's Argentine midfielder Alejandro Faurlin when the transfer window opens in January.

The rumour, idle or otherwise, is gathering a bit of momentum so if there is a vacancy across the White Hart Lane middle, it's worth looking at the player's credentials to see if he can fill it.

Oh that life were always that simple. Villa's scouting network appear to have concluded that any attempt to disrupt the Tottenham modus operandi would result in a riot, and consequently they spent the entire night carefully keeping a safe distance from us, allowing our heroes to do whatever they jolly well pleased.

THFC1882 presents Rob's guest report on last nights action:

Tottenham Hotspur team: Friedel; Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Modric (Sandro, 89), Parker, Bale; Van der Vaart (Defoe, 69); Adebayor

Goals: Spurs Adebayor 14, 40.

It was 2-0 to the home side at White Hart Lane. Tottenham created chances at will. The away side, Aston Villa, scared Tottenham not once. Emmanuel Adebayor scored both the goals and should have had more. Ledley King and Younes Kaboul were imperious in central defence. Luka Modric was exceptional in central midfield.