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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp delighted with win over Arsenal

Paul Hirst
Monday 03 October 2011 10:44 BST
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Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp insists he never doubted his team's credentials after they extended their winning streak to four matches with a 2-1 victory over bitter rivals Arsenal.

Kyle Walker wrote himself into Spurs folklore by smashing home a 30-yard screamer to hand Redknapp's team a 2-1 victory after Aaron Ramsey had equalised Rafael van der Vaart's opener.

The win was Tottenham's fourth in a row - a streak that seemed impossible five weeks ago when they were hammered 5-1 by Manchester City at White Hart Lane.

Since then, Spurs have gone from strength to strength, thanks largely to the arrivals of Scott Parker and Emmanuel Adebayor as well as their ability to keep hold of Luka Modric in the face of interest from Chelsea.

"We're a different team," Redknapp said. "I didn't have a midfield player then, really.

"Suddenly I was throwing Jake (Livermore) in and playing him in there with Niko Kranjcar, who never played central midfield in his life before.

"It opens the barn door.

"I just felt after two or three weeks, I could see what was coming.

"I never went home and worried about it because I was confident.

"We had Adebayor coming in, we had Scott Parker. We had Sandro coming back.

"I knew we'd suddenly be a much better team."

Parker and Adebayor were both key to yesterday's morale-boosting victory which plunged Arsenal to within two points of the relegation zone.

Parker's dogged performance protecting the Spurs back four neutered the threat of Arsenal's midfield and despite some outrageous chants aimed at him, Adebayor set up Van der Vaart for his goal and excelled throughout.

Redknapp admitted he was appalled at a small number of Arsenal supporters who mocked the deadly gun attack on the Togo team bus last year which Adebayor survived.

"It was disgusting, yeah, disgusting," the Tottenham boss said.

"There was some pretty disgusting chanting but that's life."

"How do you chant something like that to someone?

"You can't be right mentally. You need help.

"There are kids up there as well.

"It's got no place anywhere in life, that sort of stuff."

PA

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