Redknapp, Defoe tote new look

Historic 9-1 win has manager eyeing top four, striker eyeing England glory

Jermain Defoe could find himself in Fabio Capello's 2010 World Cup squad. (PA Wire)

No change there, then, and the current league table certainly bears him out with United still on Chelsea's coat-tails, thanks to a routine dismissal of Everton by a 3-0 scoreline at Old Trafford.

Any hopes United had that Chelsea might fall foul of the curse of the international break evaporated when the leaders made sure their five-point advantage was maintained via a most clinical Stamford Bridge dismissal of Wolverhampton Wanderers, one of the promoted teams. Carlo Ancelotti's side triumphed 4-0 despite the absence of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack through injury.

The Arsenal revival came to an end in the northeast, where they were beaten by Sunderland and that, on a weekend when Liverpool, Manchester City and Aston Villa all drew, was music to Redknapp's ears.

His Spurs side produced one of the most astonishing results in the history of the Premier League yesterday when Wigan Athletic were thrashed 9-1 at White Hart Lane, a score-line more usually associated with baseball than soccer.

Jermain Defoe, the England striker, contributed five of them, all in the second half, with the first three coming in an irresistible seven-minute spell.

That moved Tottenham level on points with Arsenal, their near neighbors and traditional rivals, and gave a very clear message to the rest of the division: that Champions League football could be coming to this part of London at long last.

Three years ago it almost happened. Spurs, then under the Dutch coach Martin Jol, needed to do better than Arsenal on the last day of the season to pip their rivals for a fourth-place finish and oust them from the final qualifying place for the elite European competition.

They were undone, however, when plates of pasta served as a pre-match meal before their final fixture against West Ham sparked a bout of food poisoning that robbed them of key players. They lost, Arsenal won and the existing order was maintained.

Of course, Arsenal demonstrated their superiority earlier this very month with a 3-0 derby victory at the Emirates Stadium but it seems there is now room in the top four for both north London sides.

Redknapp was appointed a little over a year ago to achieve one aim: keep the club in the top division after a disastrous year under Spanish coach Juande Ramos.

Redknapp left Portsmouth -- the then FA Cup holders -- on the understanding the club's unwieldy director of football post was scrapped as well and he lost little time in recruiting his own men.

Defoe was one, fellow England forward Peter Crouch another and Robbie Keane, who took no part in the Wigan massacre, the third.

Strangely enough, all three were rejoining the club, with Defoe and Keane having been sold to Portsmouth and Liverpool, respectively, under Ramos' tenure, and Crouch having been rejected as a youngster.

Their reunion, however, represents a powerful argument why Spurs and not, say, big-spending Manchester City or European specialists Liverpool, can look forward to Champions League qualifiers at the start of next season.

City may have Emmanuel Adebayor and Liverpool Fernando Torres, but neither club can boast the same depth in strike options as the boys from White Hart Lane. Craig Bellamy and Dirk Kuyt may have their moments but neither is on course to out-score their Tottenham counterparts.

Defoe is now the Premier League's lading scorer and Redknapp is backing him to remain that way at the end of the season, which will then see him packing the suitcase he will need for international duty at the World Cup finals.

Last time, in Germany 2006, then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson decided to do without Defoe and take Arsenal's Theo Walcott instead, even though the teenager had yet to kick a ball in the Premier League.

It was an eccentric decision but not one that turned out to have any merit as injuries to Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney hit England hard, yet Walcott remained unready and unused. Defoe might have made a difference and Fabio Capello, the current England manager, is unlikely to make the same mistake.

Redknapp was asked whom he regarded as the number one English forward at the moment and of course he had to pick Rooney. But when it came to pure finishing, that elusive ability to put the ball in the net, he argued there was no one better than Defoe, a player he had brought through the ranks at West Ham.

"He's an amazing finisher," Redknapp declared. "Give him half a chance he makes a yard and bangs it in the back of the net. He's been doing that since he was 14. I loaned him to Bournemouth when he was 17 and they said they needed a proper striker, a man not a kid. He went there and ended up getting 10 in 10."

Defoe is clearly a man whose time has come and that just might end up applying to his club as well.

Jon West is a London-based football journalist and guest columnist for GlobalSoccerCenter.com.