Soccer: Spurs can crack top four

The words had to be virtually dragged from his mouth but eventually Harry Redknapp had to bow to the inevitable.

"A top-four finish is possible," said the Tottenham manager, when asked for the umpteenth time if his collection of bright young things could gatecrash the Premier League's established elite. "We've got to aim to try and do that and it's time for someone to do it, so why not Spurs?"

On the face of it, Redknapp's admission appears little more than stating the obvious. Tottenham were one of only two clubs with four wins out of four heading into this weekend's round of Premier League games.

They sat proudly alongside Chelsea at the league summit, their sparkling football having amassed points and plaudits by the bucketload.

Yet Redknapp's bullishness marked a telling shift. Before now, any enquiry over whether Tottenham could achieve Champions League qualification for the first time had been deflected. His answers tended to marvel at the talents of Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.

But no longer. Expectations are mushrooming at White Hart Lane and if Spurs could extend their unbeaten start for another two games - at home to Manchester United, played overnight, and at Chelsea next weekend - even the most battle-hardened sceptic would be forced to take note.

It has been, by any standards, a staggering transformation. Less than a year ago, when Redknapp was parachuted in from Portsmouth, White Hart Lane was a dark, fretful place.

The north Londoners had two points from eight games under Juande Ramos, were entrenched in the relegation zone and had just been beaten by Stoke in an inept display, the nadir of which featured goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes crying.

When he assembled his battered and bruised players for his first game at home to Bolton a week later, Redknapp could hardly believe what he saw.

"It was a fearful atmosphere," he recalled. "There was no confidence and there was an air of nervousness. The players were very low. They had had a really bad start, they were reading things about themselves which weren't very pleasant and obviously that was having a big effect on the mood about the dressing room."

Spurs struggled on until January but it was not until Redknapp was given the chance to reshape his squad in the winter transfer window that the revival began to gather pace.

Wilson Palacios arrived from Wigan to add steel to midfield, Jermain Defoe and Robbie Keane returned to lend a serrated edge in attack and Vedran Corluka, the highly rated Croatia defender, was prised from Manchester City.

The new arrivals came at a cost - Redknapp's outlay in January was £42 million ($99.7 million) and he spent another £20 million during the summer - but the price was worth it.

"The transfer window in January was the big turning point," he added. "Suddenly we had a much stronger group of players - confident lads who were playing well for their countries and who were really strong characters.

"Guys like Wilson Palacios have been so important for us. He's in early to training, he appreciates being a professional footballer and that rubs off on other people. He gives us something we haven't had before, maybe."

Yet Tottenham's renaissance is not simply due to chairman Daniel Levy's chequebook. Redknapp has also rehabilitated players who looked broken men a year ago, piecing together their crumbling confidence and helping them fall back in love with the game.

There are success stories, from the muscular displays of Tom Huddlestone to Benot Assou-Ekotto, a hitherto unsung left-back whose 20m thunderbolt frazzled Liverpool on the opening weekend.

Then there is Aaron Lennon. The winger was the personification of Tottenham's flakiness under Ramos, a player of dizzying potential but who could be neutered if an opposing fullback so much as frowned at him. Redknapp took Lennon under his wing, ordering the rest of his squad to make him their preferred attacking outlet.

The effects have been dazzling, with Lennon's display for England against Croatia on Thursday apparently ending the question of who can be David Beckham's long-term replacement.

"I like to think that Aaron has played for me," Redknapp said. "I've always encouraged him. He can tear people to pieces if he gets on the ball and it doesn't do you any harm to be told that kind of thing. His confidence is sky-high but so is everyone's. We believe we can give anyone a game at the moment."

- INDEPENDENT