Tottenham Hotspur Football

Can you believe they are still trying to play King for England when the poor lad can hardly play all the games for Spurs. England must really be struggling for players of quality. You need at least 6 or 7 world class players in an international team to win a world cup. How many does England have?
England manager Fabio Capello is hopeful centre-back Ledley King will have an international future under his stewardship.

King was called up to the latest England squad after some commanding displays for his club Tottenham Hotspur.

However, the 28-year-old suffers with a long-standing knee problem that restricts him to just one match every seven days.

And on Tuesday it was confirmed that King would return to White Hart Lane, having been assessed by the England medical team.
Optimistic

It has been suggested that King's fitness issue means his England future is bleak, and Capello, who rates the defender highly, remains unsure if he could still have a role to play.

He said on Sky Sports News: "We hope (he has an international future), because he's a very interesting player - one of the best centre-backs. But I don't know the future.

"We've followed Ledley King a long time. The last four games he played all the games. For this reason we chose him.

"He came here. The national team's medical staff checked him. There was some problem with the knee. The day after we found the same problem with it, so we decided Ledley would return to Tottenham.

"He's a good player. I watched the game. He always plays well. When I choose I try to choose the best players.

"When the medical staff checked on the situation we decided that he could go back."

Redknapp

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp branded King's call-up as "mad" and "pointless", sparking reports of a club versus country row.

When asked of his relationship with Redknapp, Capello replied: "It's a normal relationship like with the other managers of the Premier League.

"I don't understand why he spoke about King and not about (Alan) Hutton - the Scottish manager included him in his squad after he didn't play for two months.

"It's the same thing. I don't know why he was happy about Scotland and not happy with us."

Tottenham Hotspur winning form

Chelsea failed to take advantage of Manchester United's slip at Fulham as they lost 1-0 to Spurs.

The Blues, who kicked-off half an hour late at White Hart Lane due to a security scare, knew their title rivals were struggling at Craven Cottage but could not capitalise on the slip, going down to Luka Modric's 50th minute strike.

Guus Hiddink's men looked out of sorts for much of the afternoon and the home side took a deserved lead when the Croatian latched onto Aaron Lennon's centre.

But the Blues piled on the pressure as time ran down and Spurs were indebted to much-maligned keeper Heurelho Gomes for a string of fine saves.

The pick of the Brazilian's stops was a one-handed block to deny John Terry while he was also on hand to snuff out late efforts from florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka.

Alex also hit the crossbar in stoppage time as Spurs held on.

Harry Redknapp's men were relegation candidates when he took over in October but they are unbeaten in six league games and could be in with a shout for Europe.

Hiddink's men were predictably limited to long shots and Michael Essien, back from a serious injury, forced Gomes into a save which he gathered at the second attempt early on.
Pos Team P Pts
1 Manchester United 29 65
2 Chelsea 30 61
3 Liverpool 29 61
4 Arsenal 30 55
5 Aston Villa 29 52
6 Everton 30 48
7 West Ham United 30 41
8 Fulham 30 40
9 Tottenham Hotspur 30 38
10 Wigan Athletic 29 38
11 Manchester City 29 35
12 Bolton Wanderers 30 34
13 Hull City 29 33
14 Sunderland 29 32
15 Portsmouth 29 32
16 Stoke City 30 32
17 Blackburn Rovers 30 31
18 Newcastle United 30 29
19 Middlesbrough 30 27
20 West Bromwich Albion 30 24

* All tables

Top Rated Players Player Rating Club
Luka Modric 8.7 Tottenham
Heurelho Gomes 8.6 Tottenham
Vedran Corluka 8.0 Tottenham
Ledley King 7.8 Tottenham
Aaron Lennon 7.7 Tottenham

* Rate the players here

Spurs will survive

If you take into account the results of the teams around Spurs it looks good for Spurs staying up.Another close shave is not what they needed but it seems obvious that although Ramos is a good coach he cannot handle the English game. Look at what happened to Real. Even though Liverpool beat Manu this weekend that was a poor showing from Real against a rampant Liverpool. Congrats to Liverpool they have done well. Perhaps one day Spurs will play as good again. The team has gone from strengh to strengh under Harry but we still have a little way to go. Players like Palacios and Keane have made a difference but expect a bit more dealing in the summer.
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No complacency, no fear - Kev

Kevin Bond insists there will be no complacency as we try to edge further away from the Premier League's danger zone with a positive result at Villa on Sunday.

We travel to Villa Park on a run of four matches unbeaten and one defeat in the last seven in league action.

That run has lifted us away from the lower reaches of the table and we go into Sunday's fixture 13th in the standings but still only four points clear of the bottom three.

A point against Villa - now fifth on goal difference - will lift us over Hull and Bolton on goal difference and into 11th.

"We're confident we'll be fine but we haven't got enough points yet to be fine," said assistant boss Kevin. "We've still got a few matches left and we need to continue picking up points.

"The table can look so much different from one set of results to another and at this moment we can't look too far ahead of ourselves.

"As soon as we can start looking up rather than down the better it will be for everyone."

Villa are level on points with Arsenal as they fight for that fourth Champions League spot.

"They've had a terrific season," added Kevin. "They have kept a settled side throughout most of it although they've chopped and changed a bit recently because they've had so many matches.

"They've had a couple of indifferent results but they are a cracking side.

"They play high-tempo football, they'll be in our faces and it will be a difficult game but a game we're looking forward to.

"We've done well against the top teams this season and those games have brought the best out of us.

"So there is no need to fear it. We'll go there, keep our concentration, do nothing silly at the back and hopefully get something from the game."