Merry Christmas one and all and welcome to Gameweek 19. Blackpool Vs Liverpool faces a late pitch inspection, otherwise it looks set to be a full line up over the festivities. There will be plenty of action to enjoy as you tuck into your Turkey sandwiches and polish of the last of the sherry.

Tottenham travel to Villa Park in Sunday’s late game, playmaker Rafael Van Der Vaart(8.2) may not be relishing the holiday fixtures but he is back to full fitness and sure to feature. The Dutchman has been hugely influential all season and Harry Redknapp will be delighted to have him back as Spurs look to keep up with the pack. Robbie Keane is destined for the exit door at White Hart Lane in January. The frontman is currently available for a cut-price 4.8 million. Provided he switches to another Premier League side that could be one hell of a deal.

It’s all gone a bit wrong for the Villa since their draw with Man Utd. If Emile Heskey(5.5) can regain his early season promise it could turn the tide for Gerrard Houllier’s men. Winger Stuart Downing(7.1) has also been a bright spot in a so far lacklustre season, the wingers influence could be even more crucial with fellow winger Ashley Young likely to sit this one out with a knee injury.

Chelsea have an excellent record against Arsenal so their trip to the Emirates could be a perfect opportunity to get their season back on track. Didier Drogba(12.5) probably can’t wait for Monday night, the obscenely gifted cry-baby has put 13 goals past the gunners in 13 matches.  The Blues also welcome back the very sorely missed Frank Lampard(12.6) to their starting line up. It is sure to be a keenly contested game that could provide a few goals. Arsenals twinkled toed Samir Nasri(8.4) could well be staking a claim for player of the season and it’s no surprise that he is currently in 32.5% of Fantasy League Teams. If you want to add a bit of Arsenal flair to your squad but are on a tight budget then you can always treat yourself to star of the future Jack Wilshere. The midfielder has picked up some serious game time this season, he will undoubtedly add to his current points total of 35 as his confidence grows and is yours for a cool 4.9 million.

Gameweek 20 will be upon us in a blink of an eye so that’s your lot for this week. If you feel like joining in the fun then join the EPL League by visiting: http://fantasy.premierleaguem.com/ the code you need to join is 13413-5300

Harry Redknapp was right to be bullish after Saturdays amazing fight back against Arsenal at the Emirates, for too long Tottenham have promised much and delivered little. Spending wise Tottenham have ploughed millions in the club with little real achievement to show for it, but under Redknapp the club has begun to make strides on that investment. For too long, Tottenham have been nearly men, with no significant breakthrough or consistency to the team and its results.

Ironically, it seems it took Spurs to actually hit rock bottom to finally realise just what was required. For too long, too many players have come to Tottenham thinking it was an easy switch. Too many players who can play when it suits them, but when they need to dig in and fight for a result, they’d go missing. In fact, there’s still a couple at the club now, but probably not for much longer.

Redknapp has thrown the gauntlet down to Daniel Levy, the chairman by asking him to get the two players he feels the club need to continue moving forwards in the January transfer window. For me, the club need to concentrate on two key positions, right midfield and left back. Ask an honest Spurs fan what the teams weak spot is and they’ll point to left back as a key weakness. Now, that’s not to say Benoit Assou-Ekoto is not a competent full back, he just has a tendency to switch off when you least require it.

It’s odd how football unbalanced football squads can sometimes be and at Tottenham, they have a completely unbalanced defence in terms of cover. At right back, the club currently have 5 players that can play right back. Hutton, Corluka, Kaboul, Naughton and Walker but the latter two are out on loan. At left back it’s a case of Assou-Ekotto or Bale and Bale is far more dangerous further up the field as a left midfielder. Ironically, Kyle Walker can play left back, but has yet to be given the opportunity and it’s a clear position that needs strengthening.

Perhaps more contentiously, the right midfield/winger role is one that has seen either Aaron Lennon or David Bentley fill in. Bentley for whatever reason just hasn’t been able to show anything like the form he had with Blackburn Rovers, Lennon suffers from a lack of real consistency and quality of delivery. Of the two, Lennon has the extra option of blistering pace and can burn teams with it, but too many times his delivery lets him down. For Tottenham to progress to true title contenders, they need someone who can mix both Lennons pace and Bentley’s passing and set piece play.

The one advantage Lennon has is that he is still only 23, so perhaps there is time for Redknapp and his coaching staff to add the parts of his game that are missing or lack real consistency. To do that Lennon has to focus purely on improving his technique, pace alone at this level is no longer enough. Of the two, I’d rather keep Lennon due his undoubted potential.Added to this though is how the club are viewing their transfers in regards to the ability of new signings to play in the Champions League.

It certainly makes Tottenham more appealing, as Rafael van der Vaart’s arrival showed, but can Tottenham find the quality of players they need who are not cup tied in Europe? This will be a crucial transfer window for Spurs and their fans.

Leave me your thoughts below and you can find me at www.twitter.com/paulbestall

Full disclosure: I’m a Spurs fan.  Have been for round about six years, which just so happens to be just before the last time Mark Clattenburg took charge of a Manchester United v Spurs fixture at Old Trafford.  For any who needed their memory jogged (or who weren’t fans at the time):

Look, Tottenham didn’t deserve to win on Saturday.  They were undone by the same problems that have plagued the entire season to date.  Falling behind early, a few naive moments in defense, poor set piece defending.  While they generally pass the ball well through the midfield, striker play has been awful, for the most part.

That said, Spurs shouldn’t be forced to beat the referee as well.  Old Trafford is tough enough to begin with.  Some might remember Spurs going into halftime with a 2-0 lead at this fixture two seasons ago, before Howard Webb called an incorrect penalty on Gomes, after which point the floodgates opened and United won 5-2.  Getting back to Clattenburg, I also remember him taking charge of a Spurs-United match at White Hart Lane two or three years ago, and it sticks in my mind because Paul Scholes got away with three bad and cynical fouls without being shown any card at all.

Needless to say, when I saw who the referee was for this match, I went in expecting an uphill battle.  Nani’s goal has been discussed ad nauseum on here, on pundit shows, and everywhere else so I’ll be brief when I get to it.  I’m more concerned about the other incidents in what was a very clean match with few other talking points at all.  But close examination does provide some enlightening details, in my opinion.  Here’s a short rundown – by minute – of all the other incidents in the match (I’ve tried to put away my lilywhite colored specs to do this, please cut me a little slack!):

1′st minute – Nani goes up for a 50/50 ball with Benoit Assou-Ekotto, clean play but Nani decides to roll around on the pitch for a few seconds and make an appeal to Clattenburg.  A pretty tame moment, but bares mentioning for all that happened later…

2′ – …including because of what happens in the next minute.  Nani, now popping up on the opposite side, attacks Alan Hutton.  There might’ve been minor (incidental) contact with Hutton, but not even close to being a foul.  Nani then loses control of the ball as it goes out for a goal kick, takes 3 more steps and dives with no one around him.  He then puts out his arms to appeal for God-knows-what.   At this point Clattenburg should’ve at least given Nani a telling-off to stop all the complaining and play-acting (a yellow card for this sort of crap should be the way forward IMO), yet does nothing.

17′ – William Gallas receives the first yellow of the match for a foul on Javier Hernandez.  The foul occurs near midfield, was not malicious but a fraction late, and was Gallas’ first foul of the match.  Extremely harsh on Gallas, and of course now he has to be careful for the rest of the match.

21′ - The linesman makes a mistake in Spurs’ favor, as the ball goes over the touch line before Bale crosses to win a corner.  Although the cynical side of me thinks that the only refereeing  mistakes likely to go in Spurs’ favor in a match like this are the objective ones (was the ball out of play, who was last to touch it, etc), rather than the subjective ones.

30′ - Younes Kaboul makes a silly rash challenge on Hernandez which earns United a dangerous free kick and himself a yellow card.  Which then led to Vidic’s goal.  No complaints here, Kaboul’s defending in this instance was poor.

40′ - Park Ji-Sung fouls Aaron Lennon in Spurs’ half of the pitch; a slide tackle from behind while Lennon was away on a counter.  Considering Lennon’s pace, the space in front of him, and the lack of United defenders back, it’s obvious Park knew what he was doing.  Clattenburg doesn’t think this warrants a yellow however.

45′ - Michael Carrick fouls Assou-Ekotto from behind while he’s attacking in United’s half.  Not a dangerous foul though, and didn’t deserve a card in my opinion.  However, after Clattenburg whistles for the foul, Rio Ferdinand kicks the ball 50 yards up the field in frustration.  I was under the impression this constitutes an automatic yellow, just like taking your shirt off after a goal.  Guess not.

84′ - The Nani “goal”.  For video, analysis, and discussion of the incident here’s the Gaffer’s post on the subject.  I found an article in the Wall Street Journal of all places which pretty much sums up my viewpoint on the incident.

What I do feel the need to mention is why on earth Rio Ferdinand was allowed to take part in the discussion between Clattenburg and the linesman (Simon Beck) after Beck raised his flag when the goal was scored.  And yes,  I realize that it isn’t that dissimilar to the protests Tom Huddlestone made to the referee after his goal was originally disallowed two weeks ago at Fulham.  But surely players shouldn’t be allowed to take part in decisions which are supposed to be made by the officials alone.  It hurts the ability of the referees to do their job, and the integrity of the game, so that people like me can watch on TV and make an argument that something sinister is going on.  Since there’s no culpability of the officials after the fact, one never truly knows how a decision is reached.

Finally, after the goal was given, and all the Spurs players protested for the better part of a minute, Luka Modric was given a yellow card after Clattenburg had had enough.  I thought that as captain, Modric was entitled to an explanation of his decision to award the goal (especially as Ferdinand – the opposite captain – was allowed to confer before it was given) ?

All in all, an appalling display by the referee.  3 yellow cards to Spurs, 1 of which was deserved (Kaboul) ; none to United, who deserved 3 (Park, Ferdinand, and Nani for persistent play acting).

This is all an account of what my eyes have seen in one match, and isn’t meant to project what happens in all matches of this sort.  But for marquee matches between two top teams, there’s only a pool of four or five generally recognized “elite referees” which do most of the big matches (of which Clattenburg and Webb are two), and at least with recent United-Spurs matches, they consistently get big decisions wrong, and in favor of the so-called “bigger club”.

So what do you think?  Am I just a whining Spurs fan?  Is there a shred of truth there?  Are there other good examples in recent history of major decisions going in favor of the Uniteds and the Chelsea’s when they shouldn’t have?  Are there major changes needed in the way matches are officiated, and the officials assigned to them?  Please share in the comments.

Another Premier League game, another defeat and you’d be mistaken for thinking Wolves were a side struggling to play football. Oddly, Wolves have lost the last 3 league games when they probably deserved so much more for their efforts. After running Fulham so close at Craven Cottage, with two defensive slip ups gifting the hosts all three points, Mick McCarthy was honest in his criticism. His team had thrown the game away by simply switching off.

The winner goal in that match was a free kick from Dembele in injury time and it was dissected to distraction all weekend to show the wall splitting opened up the opportunity to score. There’s not much a manager can do when his defensive wall turn their backs on the free kick. As soon as they did that, they offered the chance to increase, losing all control all on the ball at that point. At least facing forwards, they have an idea where the strike may end up.

The following week, Wolves travelled to White Hart Lane, as Tottenham’s spluttering season continued. With good memories of the ground after last years 1-0 win, the visitors once again took advantage of some wayward finishing to take the lead. Spurs huffed and puffed for the best part of an hour, but it was an unusual tactical change that turned the game. Spurs brought on Alan Hutton, the attacking right back and he was involved in the penalty that gave Spurs a chance to get back in to the game.

Wolves simply couldn’t deal with the full back marauding down the flanks effectively and Spurs kept knocking, scoring another 2 goals include a rather fortuitous 3rd, score by Hutton, with a deflected loop over the goalkeeper. Another excellent display undone in 13 minutes by a lack of nous and experience.

Today continued the theme, desperate to impress the home fans in a West Midlands derby, Wolves pressed and pressed and then got undone on the counter attack. Once again they failed to turn possession in to real opportunities, with a large slice of luck allowing them to get level. It could be a concern that Wolves are taking games to sides but not being able to convert the opportunities or create enough clear cut chances to actually get the goals their performances perhaps deserve.

Similarly to Stoke City and Bolton Wanderers, Wolves have begun to seek to add some silk to the steely play they showed us last season. By employing the high tempo, pressurised game, Wolves were able to unsettle some more illustrious opponents. Now, by trying to entertain slightly more they are beginning to leave to many cracks for teams to exploit. Yet, despite losing 3 games on the spin, there is no need for hand wringing at Molineux.

The performances have been positive on the whole and should be taken with a pinch of salt. The league is still oddly tight, especially after Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester City and one win can send a side surging up the table. As Blackpool have shown, this season is nothing if predicatable. Wolves will probably win games playing a lot worse than they have in the last few weeks, so the need to keep positive is crucial for McCarthy and his players.

For some players, it can often take a season to settle in to a new club, especially when you arrive with a £30 million price tag around your neck. Sometimes, other aspects can slow the adaption to new surroundings. For Dimitar Berbatov, in his 3rd season at Manchester United, it seems he has finally begun to show Manchester United fans exactly what type of player he is.

Berbatov has had more than his fair share of critics for the first two seasons in Manchester, with accusations on his fitness, work-rate, finishing and waistline all being thrown at him. Despite Berbatov’s fine period at White Hart Lane, he seemed a little within himself whilst starting his Manchester United’s career. 46 goals in 102 games for Tottenham was a phenomenal return for a player experiencing English football for the first time.

It would always be difficult for Berbatov to hit the ground running at Old Trafford. He had moved from a club where he was the fulcrum of the side, the architect. Everything went through Berbatov and it allowed him a freedom of expression that would be difficult to replicate at Manchester United. There he became one of a number of star players, one of the cogs, rather than the engine room. Even the most technical players find that change difficult.

His technical abilities are in no doubt, but it always takes time to adapt to a new system, a new team and a new surrounding. For some people, these things should not be an issue when you cost so much money but as with anything in life, change always takes time to sink in. For Berbatov, it took longer than it perhaps should have for some people.

The new season though has seen Berbatov start with a bang with 3 goals in Manchester United’s first four matches, two of which have been stunning efforts. The deftly crafted lob with defenders baring down on him in the Community Shield clash against Chelsea was a phenomenal finish under pressure. The goal against West Ham United was an astounding scissor kick from a delightful chip from Nani.

Perhaps it’s removing the weight of his international career over the summer that has seen him return refreshed and firing on all cylinders. Berbatov has suffered continual criticism of his international career, but he’s still managed to become the Bulgarian sides all time top scorer in a  side that perhaps isn’t as strong as some of its predecessors.  For some people, constant criticism whilst you are breaking records would seem beyond churlish but that’s football. Some people are never satisfied.

For Berbatov, this season is crucial for both himself and Sir Alex Ferguson. Whilst many dare not criticise Ferguson, Berbatov is a transfer that he cannot hide from the critics. The fee, the players prior success before joining United and the ever constant eye of press coverage make it impossible to sweep under the carpet. This was no Ralph Milne from Bristol City dark days transfer but Berbatov could console himself with the fact that Ferguson will protect his players with an iron resolve and continues to do so.

There is no doubt that this is a critical season for Berbatov at Manchester United but already he is showing he is more than ready for the challenge. Have no doubt if he continues in this form, both he and Manchester United will have a very successful season.

Please leave me you comments below and you can follow me at http://twitter.com/paulbestall

For me, there is only one English goalkeeper that can be England’s number one for South Africa next summer and that man is Paul Robinson. After being so badly treated at Tottenham under Juande Ramos and unfairly blamed for giving away a soft goal for England against Croatia, Robinson has finally got back to his best. He was hung out to dry by Steve Mclaren after Gary Neville’s wayward back pass bobbled over his foot.

Everyone conveniently forgot the string of saves Robinson had made to keep England in a game they were a poor second best in that night. Right now, he is playing better than any of his counterparts, with probably the exception of Steve Harper at Newcastle United and Joe Hart at Birmingham City. Forget the Robert Green argument, he’s nowhere near good enough.

Of the goalkeepers available to Capello, Robinson is head and shoulders above all others and has been for the best part of a year. David James is injured and playing for a team in free-fall, both on and off the pitch. Robert Green is bang out of form and consistently makes mistake after mistake. He also has a tendency to try and deliberately foul players whenever possible.For all his bravado and wearing “England’s number 6″ on his gloves, he’s not good enough. He’s always been poor coming off his line and his aerial ability is not the best.

Poor old Ben Foster has suffered from some rather unnecessary criticism but still can’t shift the dreadful Thomas Kuszczak from between the sticks at Old Trafford.There is no doubt that the lad can go a long way in the game, but he’s suffering from a crisis in confidence at the moment, but he’s still a better goalkeeper than Kuszczak.

Scott Carson still suffers from a lack of concentration at West Bromwich Albion and still seems to bear the scars from the defeat to Croatia in November 2007 at Wembley. For all his shot stopping ability, Carson can still make some all mighty howlers from out of nowhere and seems to have fallen away from anywhere near the England team.

Poor old Chris Kirkland simply can’t keep fit, whenever he gets on a great run of form, his long standing back injury seems to flare up and take out of the side. Despite the 9 goal mauling Wigan Athletic suffered at White Hart Lane, it’s no exaggeration to say it could have been twenty if it wasn’t for Kirkland. He showed such promise at Coventry but injuries blighted his time at Anfield and he’s never been able to shake the tag of being injury prone.

Other than Robinson and Hart, the other stand out candidate for the three places in South Africa for me is Steve Harper at Newcastle. He’s now getting the opportunity to show just how good a goalkeeper he actually is week in week out after Shay Given left last January for Manchester City. Whilst most people would have been itching for a move, Harper has shown incredible loyalty to Newcastle over the years.

After 16 years service, with 12 of those as Given’s back up, he’s incredibly only played 151 games for Newcastle, with 86 of those appearances coming in the last four seasons. He has constantly served the club with pride and is now in the form of his life. Whilst others may have viewed Given’s depature as a real blow, having a player of the ability of Harper would certainly soften the blow.

Whilst some people seem to point out that you need a great goalkeeper to win the World Cup, with the exception of Buffon in 2006, you have to go all the way back to 1982 to find a team with a world class goalkeeper that won the World Cup. Every other winner since then has had good, and in some cases distinctly average custodians between the sticks. Paul Robinson is far better than average and Capello would do well to welcome him back into the fold.  With Harper and Hart, that would be a dependable and quality set of goalkeepers to choose from.

The sight of Ledley King pulling up when Didier Drogba was running towards the Tottenham goal in Sunday’s London derby left me with a resigned feeling of deja vu. Even on one leg, a training regime of swimming twice a week and the frailties of the midfield formation that wasn’t working, King was keeping Drogba quiet. That was the key turning point of the match for me, regardless of the legitimacy of the penalty claim.

Since King fractured his metatarsal in a Premier League back in April 2006, missing the World Cup, he has had no luck with injuries at all. Yet it’s nothing new, in the 9 seasons since he became a first team mainstay, King has played in over 30 league games in only two seasons, 2001-02 and 2004-05. Tottenham fans still regard him as one of the best of the last 20 years to play at the Lane and his staus as club captain from 2005 to 2009 recognises his contribution, on and off the field of play.

The chronic knee injury which now plagues him was caused ironically, in a training ground clash during the summer of 2006. Since then King has managed to play in only 52 League games from a possible 120 matches. It seems a cruel twist of fate that King could have been a consistently recognised player for his country, as the spat between Capello and Redknapp earlier this year showed.

As much as his injury problems have affected his playing career, Capello rightly recognises King as one of England’s best 3 centre halves and a fantastic defensive midfielder at both club and international level. What makes King’s continued appearances more astounding is the fact that his knee is inoperable. His problem is he has no cartilage in the affected knee, so he plays games with bone rubbing on bone.

At 28, it’s an incredible risk to put himself through so much on a weekly basis simply to play football. Why does he do it? After each game the knee swells up, making it impossible for him to play more than once every 6 or 7 days. The stress that must be putting on his body must be incredible. The trouble is, because he now can’t train, other area’s of his body are beginning to show signs of wear and tear. The injury to his right hamstring on Sunday seemed to just happen. He wasn’t in full flow, he wasn’t stretching, it simply went on him.

I can honestly say that King is one of my favorite players and one of the best centre halves that we’ve had at Tottenham since I actually knew anything about the game. Yes, I still rate Campbell and yet King perhaps harks back to early time in what drives him to keep going. I see so much of Gary Mabbutt’s attitude in the way King puts his health on the line for the shirt, the fans and the club.I find it astounding, I really do that he cares enough to keep going like he does.

Mabbutt, if you were unaware, is a diabetic and had to inject himself four times a day, check his blood sugar levels before, during and after games and always keep his insulin kit with him at all times. To think he played over 600 professional matches and appeared 16 times for England gives you some idea of the spirit that drove Mabbutt onward.Despite being diagnosed at 17, he continued to play, train and work diabetes in to his football routine and got to the top level of his sport regardless of how easy it could have been to give up.

Whilst King’s condition is nowhere near as serious, it gives some idea of the mental strength that he must summon every time he steps out on a pitch for Spurs. I just hope that he can keep going without causing himself permanent injury in later life. At the end of the day, it’s only football and Ledley already has a place in the hearts of the Tottenham faithful.

When a team only wins 2 games out of 18, you’d fully expect them to be propping up the Premiership table, already planning for life in the Championship the following season. Thankfully for Hull City, their fantastic start to the season has kept them out of the bottom 3, hanging on by their fingernails to 17th and desperately looking over their shoulder, at the three teams below them and hoping they can struggle to the finish line and not fall away at the last.

It would be simplifying matters to point out that they just need to get some points on the table as the Hull City side that are currently in deep, deep trouble seem to bear no relation to the one that began the season. With 20 points from the first ten games of a debut season from heaven in the top flight, no-one surely at the K.C. Stadium could have imagined it would come to this would it? A side that were like a breath of fresh air, knocking so called bigger sides’ noses out of joint as they racked up away wins at White Hart Lane, The Emirates and St James’ Park.

Playing a brand of swashbuckling football that saw them come up against more illustrious opponents and bloody their noses, they are now reduced to reverting to type. Thumping it forward and playing for set pieces, desperately clinging to the long ball game and getting nothing for it. The side who were gaining all the plaudits as Summer turned to Autumn, now find that for a season that promised so much, time is beginning to run out.

Of course, it may not matter, as up the coast, Newcastle and Middlesbrough are doing a fine job of preserving Hull’s Premiership status for them, but 3 points for the Tigers would be the best medicine that Browns sickly side could be prescribed, rather than facing the placebo effect of Newcastle’s visibly draining confidence and Middlesbrough shot shy side. Phil Brown is also beginning to suffer from the pain of the dogfight, so in demand for his refreshingly honest appraisals at the beginning of the season, now the media twists his words to spitting barbs from his tongue. Brown hasn’t changed, but the way in which he’s being reflected in the media certainly has.

People point to the Manchester City game as the defining point of the season for Hull City, as Browns fettered ego saw him ride roughshod over the norm, holding his half time team talk on the pitch as Eastlands as his side recuperated from a first half battering against Mark Hughes’s millionaires. Yet that was on Boxing Day, coming into that game, they were already falling away with only 1 win in the 8 previous matches, a confidence sapping 2-0 lead had been dropped at Anfield two weeks previously, an embarrassing 4-1 defeat against Sunderland the week before had laid the foundations for the capitulation in Manchester.

The transfer window couldn’t come soon enough for Hull City and as it opened Hull threw some money at the side to freshen it up, making Jimmy Bullard the key signing. What a mistake that was, well known to be carrying an injury, to the extent that Fulham wouldn’t offer him a contract based on their concerns, Bullard’s knee went after just 37 minutes in a Hull City shirt. Now that for me was the moment the wheels fell off Hull’s season, he was the big signing and there is no doubt that a fit and buzzing Jimmy Bullard is a smashing player. Yet this is not the Bullard that we saw at Wigan Athletic and sporadically at Fulham and that injury deflated the sails of the Tigers survival schooner. Couple with the strikers drying up and reverting from football to hoofball, the points are slipping through their fingers.

Sure they picked up 3 surprising points at Fulham, but they are falling away at the wrong moment and Phil Brown has it all to do to rescue a Hull City season that promised so much but is beginning to rely on the failings of others. Unfortunately, that’s when you have no control over your destiny and they have to try and snatch something, anything from the next 3 matches, the last game I fear may be too much to ask unless Manchester United have the Premiership in the bag and have beat Arsenal in the Champions League, with the final 3 days after the end of the Premiership season.  I hope that there is a happy ending to Hull’s Premiership season, I really do, but I’m beginning to fear the worst for them and that would be a terrible shame.

Anyone who’s caught Tottenham in action recently will not fail to have been impressed by Aaron Lennon’s recent form on the right hand side of Spurs’ midfield. For me, it’ll be a major surprise if he’s not in Fabio Capello’s next England squad for the Friendly against Slovakia and the qualifier in Kiev against the Ukraine. Lennon has an opportunity to finally step up and show everyone outside of White Hart Lane just how well he’s playing at the moment.

Lennon is one of those players that can infuriate and delight in equal measure, his pace and jinking runs coupled with a poor goal return for such pace and some very wayward deliveries and crosses. Yet, this season he was one of the best players under the dreadful start Ramos endured but was still short of reaching his full potential. Slowly though, under Harry Redknapp he has begun to recapture the level of performance he showed toward the end of Martin Jol’s 2nd full season, his performance against Chelsea away in the F.A.Cup particularly. With Ramos playing him out of position to accommodate David Bentley, his game was tested but he still gave 100%.

4 goals and 3 assists in his last 5 Premier League games, coupled with a superb performance against Patrice Evra in the Carling Cup Final has seen him play his best football since he joined Tottenham back in 2005 for £1,000,000. That fee gets cheaper by the week and Lennon is on fire at the moment. Sure, his distribution needs to improve and his first touch can sometimes let him down but let’s not forget he’s still only 21 years old, he can only get better. Redknapp has really got the best out of him recently and he’s worthy of at least a squad place for England, of that, there is no doubt. The Ukraine game notwithstanding, England have 3 pretty easy games coming up and Lennon can cement his position in the squad for South Africa if he keeps performing to the level he currently is. Capello loves his attacking players to have pace and Lennon has it to burn, making him easily one of the quickest players in the Premiership.That alone would have made Fabio sit up and take notice. Another great performance against Chelsea on Saturday wouldn’t go amiss either.

Now it’s all down to Aaron Lennon how far he goes, he needs to really deliver the level of performance he’s showing currently, week in, week out for Tottenham and England when he gets the opportunity. He needs to keep working down the training ground to get his crossing ability up from inconsistent and push himself onward to get the rewards that await him if he wants them. When Spurs signed David Bentley, I was worried that Lennon would be on the way out but Bentley’s dreadful form since joining from Blackburn Rovers has seen Lennon make the right wing his own and Bentley occasionally get a run out on the left. Unfortunately for Bentley, the signing of Palacios and Jenas’ return to form has seen him drop on to the bench, as Redknapp has changed the midfield set up until he can fetch a left winger in, so he has to enjoy the sight of Lennon dancing past him most matches.That goal against Arsenal must seem a lifetime away.

Now all Lennon has to do is maintain his form and that, in the most part is going to be his toughest opponent.

Sunday’s big game in the Premier League will be an intriguing affair featuring Tottenham Hotspur against Portsmouth at 11am ET/4pm GMT. Intriguing because it sees Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and striker Jermain Defoe up against their former club. Only three points separate both teams, and based on current form both clubs could be in for a relegation dogfight between now and the end of the season.

The other intriguing subplot is that this will be the first match between both clubs since the time Sol Campbell was the recipient of homophobic abuse from Tottenham fans. Following an investigation into the September 28th incident, eleven football fans were charged.

It’s not surprising then that officials from both clubs are concerned about misbehavior from both sets of fans this Sunday.

What I find interesting about the whole situation is that during the past two seasons Tottenham Hotspur have offered home and away supporters the ability to text or e-mail safety concerns to the club, so they can immediately investigate the situation.

Here’s how it works:

If a football fan witnesses anyone at White Hart Lane using foul, abusive or racist language, they can text 07766 553 225 or email the club at safety@tottenhamhotspur.com. The messages go directly to the control room at White Hart Lane. The club then can communicate with the fan to find out which area of the ground the incident is happening in, and the control room can view the area of concern on CCTV and deal with the matter.

Tottenham Hotspur should be applauded for using the latest in technology to help eradicate the problem of discrimination. Without being able to use mobile phones, football supporters would have to contact a steward to report the problem, but then that risks them being seen and being the subject of abuse or being physically threatened.

Let’s hope Sunday’s match happens without any incidents off the pitch spoiling the game.