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Jermain Defoe lends voice to Tottenham title aspirations

 

Duncan Bech
Thursday 01 December 2011 16:40 GMT
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Defoe has been linked with a move away from White Hart Lane
Defoe has been linked with a move away from White Hart Lane (GETTY IMAGES)

Jermain Defoe agrees with Harry Redknapp that Tottenham can win the Barclays Premier League title.

Spurs sit third in the table, seven points behind leaders Manchester City but with a game in hand, and face Bolton, Stoke and Sunderland in their next three fixtures.

They are currently London's top cub and Defoe believes they have the resources to field two teams who could compete in the top flight.

"The squad we have is unbelievable," he told talkSPORT.

"We have two teams who are capable of playing in the Premier League. It doesn't matter who we play, we believe we can win.

"Can we win the title? The manager thinks we can. That's great and I can't see why not.

"There are a lot of good players in the team. We look forward to every game.

"Everyone is buzzing and playing well because we have that winning mentality now, but we are going to take every game as it comes and try to keep winning.

"When we play like we can, it must be brilliant to watch.

"Every game you look forward to. We have the winning mentality now. It doesn't matter who we play, we always think we can win."

Defoe's conviction that Tottenham will finish above Arsenal saw him pledge to pay £3,000 to charity on Twitter this morning if that scenario fails to unfolds.

Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere recently offered to give the same amount if Arsenal were pipped by their north London rivals.

"I'm quite confident that we'll finish above Arsenal and I will take Jack on," said Defoe.

"I'll get involved, even though some Arsenal fans probably won't like to hear me say that."

Defoe has lost his place in Spurs' first choice line-up thanks to the partnership between Emmanuel Adebayor and Rafael van der Vaart.

The Europa League has provided most of his starts this season with Redknapp using the competition to provide his second string with game time.

Spurs' European campaign could be over following their 2-1 defeat by PAOK Salonika last night, potentially robbing Defoe of his primary source of action.

The 29-year-old insists it is imperative that he remains active at this stage of his career - especially with Euro 2012 approaching.

"Everyone knows I love the club. I'm Spurs through and through," said the England marksman.

"I've been here for a number of years, my family love the club and the fans have been fantastic with me since day one.

"It's difficult to think about leaving. When you're playing for a club you love it's such a great feeling.

"But I'm 29 and need to be playing football regularly. That's all that matters.

"Leading into a massive tournament you want to make sure you're on that plane.

"Having had that buzz before, you want it again so it's important for me to be playing, especially at my age.

"The other forwards [in the England squad] are playing regularly.

"You could say it's not fair really, they are scoring goals so they deserve to be in the squad.

"So it's about me playing regularly and trying to get back in the squad."

PA

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