It looks like it could be a race between Sebastien Bassong and Giovani Dos Santos to be the first through the White Hart Lane exit door this month with our defender being the first dissenting voice of this transfer window.

Bassong could have gone to Bolton as part of a Gary Cahill deal in the summer but a more likely destination could be QPR, who have been linked with most of the fringe defenders in the Premiership.

Just when I had considered giving up on Father Christmas altogether, he fills my stocking with dropped points by all of Chelski, l'Arse, Liverpool and even Man City. And – and - he even un-twinges VDV's hamstring. I'm not sure there has ever been a Christmas quite like it.

No reason not to expect another high-class performance, missed chances a-plenty and ultimately three more points tonight.

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.

Left, right, left, right Unassuming Spurs defender Sebastien Bassong was making his way to the warm the bench for last night's win over Aston Villa when he found his route unexpectedly narrowed by representatives from the Army who led the teams out as part of the Tickets for Troops scheme. Visibly taken aback at first, [.

If you believe certain parts of the press this week, Malaga are the club with money to burn and they are set to approach Spurs in January with two very different £20m offers.

The first, and marginally more likely is an offer for Aaron Lennon, who has made an impressive return to the Spurs first team with a goal and three assists in his last two games.

More dedicated followers of AANP will be well aware that when I do eventually conclude fighting the good fight and prepare to meet my doom, ‘twill not be in a hail of bullets or blaze of glory, but coronary failure sustained while watching our heroes. While cheering the news that the various pokes and prods to ‘Arry ‘s cardiac area proved successful, I rather fear for him if he observed on the telly-box the inept tomfoolery of Monsieur Bassong in contributing to our downfall.

Rarely do I expect our heroes to lose – away to the Manchester clubs are about the only fixtures this season in which I would regrettably project nul points - but to that roll of dishonour let the epithet "Rubin Kazan. Away. And With Kids" be added. Those Russians can rightly feel a tad aggrieved at having to slop back off to Siberia with nothing but commemorative THFC thermal underwear, for they had the woolly mammoth's share of possession and chances that night, and are likely to cause us a fair degree of bother on their own patch.

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.

Our current defensive pairing have been talking about our aims for this season and while Younes Kaboul is gearing up for a tilt at the top four, Sebastien Bassong admits it will be tougher than ever to get back into the Champions League.

Speaking on Talksport, Kaboul said: "We're doing quite well this season and for us our target, most importantly, is to get back into the Champions League next season.

New Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel has praised the resilience at the club that has seen Spurs transform their season after a disappointing start.

After the gloom that descended following the Manchester City defeat, Spurs have embarked on a six game unbeaten run and Friedel has hailed the backs-to-the wall defensive resistance that held out in our last two away games.

1. Collect Underpants
2. ?
3. Profit
As the South Park Underpant Gnomes so crucially failed to diagnose, some things are a dashed sight more difficult in practice than they appear on paper. Nota bene, ‘Arry and the assorted Hotspurs, for bottom of the table Blackburn may be, but alas it is unlikely that they will simply roll over and allow us to tickle their tummies before disappearing into the night with three points.

Few things in life scream "Pointless Money-Making Charade!" quite like a Europa group stage game, but this one actually has relevance, sub-plots and all other sorts of curious goodies the like of which have rarely been seen on a Thursday night on Channel 5.

On a formal note, this game is actually laden with group-deciding significance no less.

Blast, and other unseemly vituperations. Apparently armed with a game-plan to avoid, at all costs, ever stringing together more than three passes, our heroes stuck to the drill fairly resolutely throughout, and it's two points a-begging, faster than you can say "someone track that Ba fellow, he's making a late run into the area".

Over the last couple of weeks there has been much talk of the Cahill / Bassong swap being resurrected as Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp indicated that he may well go back in for the Bolton defender in January.

"We couldn't get a deal done for Cahill," Harry said over the weekend. "That's not to say we won't try again in January.

With fourth spot in the Premiership all but wrapped up it's time for everyone to swing around and face this direction once again, just hither. I appreciate it can be jolly dashed mind-boggling these days trying to separate one competition from the next, but my spies tell me that tonight it's Europa.

Europa League or Carling Cup, which ought we to want less? It's a tricky one. The Europa League trophy is a sizeable beast, and its lack of handles gives it a pleasingly Neanderthalic edge – one cannot help but handle it in rough, uncouth manner when raising it aloft, which is rather apt after 90 minutes of blood and thunder.

Never mind the game today, have you seen Sandro's hair? Heavens above. The fellow has done the most extraordinary things... have yourself a perusal at around 1.50 on this clip.

Of secondary importance is the visit of that red mob. In what might as well be a 17-team division competing for fourth spot, Liverpool, along with those relentless purveyors of comedy at the Emirates, represent our principal rivals – which makes this quite the key clash in the grand scheme of things.

‘Tis held in some quarters that as a whippersnapper the schoolboy ‘Arry would wile away his hours yelping "Wolf!" with tedious regularity, but on Saturday even the cynics amongst us realised that his "bare bones" mantra could be objectively verified. The adage has it that actions speak louder than words, so when young Giovani was shoved out onto the pitch for a few minutes it became evident that ‘Arry spoke sooth, and our lot really were struggling for personnel.

Like the Queen visiting the troops in Helmand in a symbolic gesture to bolster morale, we lilywhites need something to raise spirits, for few amongst us found anything comforting in Monday night's debacle and gloomy faces abound. Timely then that that Hearts are pootling along the High Road to be given the run around tonight, for another gentle, if pointless, five-nil win would be timely.

While the finances at Spurs don't seem to be an issue, our reluctance to lower asking prices is. You can't sell what people won't buy, so with this in mind, maybe it's time we took a leaf out of the Italian's book and started to think seriously about player swaps.

By adopting this strategy we don't have to spend a fortune on transfer fees, and we don't risk scaring off potential buyers every time we quote a transfer value for one of our players.

With Jonathan Woodgate having left the club, the centre back positions are looking very thin and although we know that Ledley will remain in the ranks for the forthcoming campaign, everybody knows not to expect a full season from him.

With that in mind, the deadwood report turns its attention to Sebastien Bassong and here is another player who seems to split opinion down the middle.

Is anyone starting to get frustrated at the way Spurs conduct their transfer activity?

With our backs to the wall, when players have had their heads turned, you have to admire how Daniel Levy has drained millions from other chairman for the likes of Berbatov, Carrick and Keane.

Unfortunately the flip side of this approach has meant that Spurs are stuck with a large group of players that are beyond the age where they can improve, and their wages and valuations are so high we can't get rid of them.

Two of Spurs current centre halves are in the news today as they face an uncertain future during the summer break.
Sebastien Bassong's move away from the club may have moved a step closer with reports that Wolves may come in for the player after being priced out of the market for Birmingham's Roger Johnson.

Most of the transfer news this morning concerns possible departures from White Hart Lane and while AC Milan have been linked with two of our players this week, their vice-president Adriano Galliano has dismissed reports of moves for either Rafael van der Vaart or Sandro.

Speaking to the Italian press, Galliani said: "Van der Vaart?

Seb Bassong was always a very ambitious footballer, and it was almost certain that he would leave Newcastle when they were relegated and he did. Sebastien Bassong - while at Newcastle Bassong was our Player of the Season at Newcastle in the relegation season of two years ago, with a massive 65% of the [.

While the sight of Ledley King in a Spurs shirt once again will have delighted some supporters, his return to first team action may prove to be the last straw for Sebastien Bassong.

Both players featured in a Spurs XI game at the Lodge last week but it was Ledley who was brought straight in to the first team to replace the injured William Gallas despite severe doubts over his own fitness.

Such are the rigours of supporting Spurs that I have been happy to bleat away for the last few weeks about how we will despatch Real Madrid over two legs, yet struggle to see us gleaning more than a point at Wigan. Legend has it that even great big burly types like Achilles had the odd weakness or two, and the chink in Spurs' armour seems to be opposition that is near-enough fit for life in a division below us.

And just when we had all got our breath back after the Milan game, and switched our focus back to domestic matters, Gary Lineker of all people matches us with Real blinking Madrid.

Minor Digression

Some lilywhites of my acquaintance reacted with dismay to the draw, but around these parts there were back-slaps and whoops unconfined.

Spurs fans born yesterday – or at least since around 2009 – may disagree, but following up victory at the San Siro with defeat at Blackpool would not be the most unlikely turn of events at for the heroes of N17. Mercifully the current vintage seem just as capable of digging out tricky away wins to lower-table scrappers as they are of churning out a never-to-be-forgotten glory night in one of Europe's premier arenas – which ought to prove jolly handy tonight, as our walking wounded leave a blood-stained trail from N17 to Blackpool pier.

Everyone feeling better now? As is typically the case with our one-nil wins it was all frightfully nervy stuff towards the end, what with the aerial bombardment and off-the-line clearances, but three cheers for a clean sheet and away win. Huzzah, huzzah and thrice I say, huzzah!

AANP: Pretty Ignorant When It Comes to Football

So having banged on to anyone who will listen for past six months about how useless Crouch is with his head, lo and indeed behold the sight of the gangly one nailing an absolute textbook header in the opening moments.

Tottenham Hotspur are struggling to bring a quality striker to White Hart Lane before the January transfer window closes but one player who does not plan on going anywhere in the near future is Sebastien Bassong.

The former Newcastle United defender was impressive in the Spurs' starting line-up at the beginning of the season but ever since the return of Michael Dawson, he has fallen down the pecking order.

Another player who is likely to remain at the Lane for the foreseeable future is Sebastien Bassong.

Given Spurs' injury problems at the back, it is unlikely that the club would want to let him go now in any case, but with his first team chances restricted, it had been rumoured that Bassong would be gone this month.

Sebastien Bassong was a great signing for the Newcastle United club, when the Magpies got him from Metz for £500K in the summer of 2008. Seb Bassong while on Tyneside And before Kevin Keegan signed him, he had him on trial at Newcastle for a week, but when Seb got into the team he [...]

And now for something completely different. At third (and, later fourth) round stage the FA Cup hardly constitutes fixture congestion, so the question of where it stands in our list of priorities can probably be deferred to another day.

Bingo cards out then, as we look to cross off the names of various squad members last season posing merrily in the club photocall back in August.

Around ten days ago I mused that I would have settled for eight points from our four Christmas-New Year games. Three games in and we already have nine, which means that the riotously good fun continues into 2011 – still not yet out of the title race, most definitely still in the Top Four race and looking down upon the rotters from Stamford Bridge, languishing beneath us.