Before inevitably taking the post as England manager after Fabio Capello slumps more than he has ever slumped before this summer, Harry Redknapp has realistic title hopes to contend with; unless of course Jack Wilshere’s positiveness acts as a catalyst for Wenger’s warriors to push on to a second half of the season surge. When the returning injured midfielder was asked if Arsenal could win the Premier League he replied with, “Why not?” To add to the credentials of his statement he also said of Wayne Rooney’s match ban reduction, “his brain is miles ahead of most English players,” in a ringing endorsement to the average IQ of the England football team. In what just seems like a subtle, rivalry-induced, agenda against Tottenham Hotspur, he’s also plumped Wenger as direct competition for Redknapp, not only in the Premier League but for the England job, “[Wenger] and Sir Alex Ferguson are the best managers in the league and, if the boss at Arsenal wanted the job with England, I’d be delighted with that.”

However, if a North London club are to compete with Manchester City, and maybe Manchester United, I’d hedge my bets against Wilshere’s boyhood club and sit on the white side of the divide. Their run of late is admirable: before the weekend they sat in 3rd place with the potential to leapfrog Manchester United with their game in hand and were on a six game winning streak that was unmatched; their only defeaters sat above them. Tottenham fans will be hoping Stoke was a blip, in an otherwise brilliant run of results.

Looking at their January fixtures, you’d forgive Tottenham for thinking they could pick up near-maximum points: they play 4 of their 5 games that month at White Hart Lane and 3 of the teams currently occupy positions in the wrong half of the table. West Brom, Everton and Wolves are their first three games at the Lane and after an easy away day at The Etihad, they return to their home ground to knock five shades of blue and white into bottom-of-the-table Wigan Athletic. If on paper, their fixtures don’t look manageable enough for you, they have won 10 of their last 12 games and have already beaten 3 of the 4 teams they’ve already faced from their January calendar.

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If getting knocked out of the European tournament that Harry Redknapp wasn’t fussed about in the first place, aided Tottenham in their quest for the English title they are fussed with, then they’ll be happy to see two of their title rivals drop into the said European tournament having been knocked out of the one Harry Redknapp is aiming for, too.

That would have satisfied old Harry Redknapp enough, seeing two of the Premier League big boys battle the likes of FC Metalist Kharkiv and PAOK Salonika in the quest for the Europa League accolade, but he’s been the beneficiary of a cruel twist of fate for his current closest competition, United, as well.

Losing 2-1 to FC Basel was hard enough for Manchester United fans to take and even harder for the, again, apologetic Sir Alex Ferguson, but losing Nemanja Vidic, who single-handedly makes United’s defence better (when the Serbian doesn’t play opposition’s shots on target increase by 70%)  was a blow on an even larger scale. With Rio Ferdinand having a fluctuating season, again plagued by niggles, and United’s defence being a shadow of seasons gone, there’s a real threat that without a stop-gap signing in January, Spurs could be the sunny side of United before too long.

The problem won’t be solved quickly either, Vidic looks set to see the rest of the season from the sidelines; if not a year.

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