Spurs the title deciders

In one of Tottenham's most memorable weeks; crashing out of the FA Cup to Portsmouth before beating London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea, Oliver Brown in The Sunday Telegraph looks at Spurs' role in deciding the title race.

How do a team lose to Portsmouth as their prelude to beating Arsenal and Chelsea, all in the space of one madcap week? Harry Redknapp, manager of this most mercurial Tottenham side and unlikely kingmaker in the season’s title race, is not quite sure.

He confessed he would have gladly accepted five points from a run of games against three of the Premier League’s top four, and yet he has wound up taking six from two.

“The great thing about the game is days like this,” Redknapp said, as Tottenham fans streamed out of White Hart Lane scarcely believing that their team had managed to surpass Wednesday’s triumph in the north London derby with another logic-defying, potentially season-changing result. He still confronts a daunting visit next week to Manchester United, but he thinks they can make even more of an impact on the title race. “The championship is wide open,” he said.

It emphatically is, and the dramatic shifts of advantage at the top of the table are all coming courtesy of Tottenham’s inspired play. The dejection of the humbling by Portsmouth in last Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final is already distant in Redknapp’s memory. “There was disappointment, but to come back with two unbelievable performances was top class. I said we needed to raise our level against Chelsea and we did.”

Tottenham’s capacity to spring such shocks was no surprise, though, to a wise old owl of the English game. Redknapp has observed the team’s victories in seven of their last eight matches with quiet contentment and this display against a Chelsea side who have been scoring goals with abandon was his greatest vindication yet.