Wilshere will pay charity if Spurs finish above Arsenal

Jack Wilshere: 'It's a marathon, not a sprint' (Getty Images)

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere will donate £3,000 to charity if his team finish lower than arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League at the end of the season.

Spurs, who have not finished above their north London neighbours since 1995, moved into third position by beating Aston Villa 2-0 at White Hart Lane on Monday and are four places above Arsenal and three points better off with a game in hand.

"All Spurs fans are buzzing they are ahead of us in the league," Wilshere said on his Twitter feed. "It's a marathon, not a sprint.

"At the end of the season if Spurs finish above Arsenal I will give 3,000 pounds to charity and if Arsenal finish above Spurs every Spurs fan that follows me must send me a pound which I will send to charity." Wilshere has yet to play for Arsenal this season following ankle surgery on an injury sustained during the summer, but hopes to return in the new year.

Meanwhile, the former England manager Steve McClaren has backed Harry Redknapp to take over the national team.

Fabio Capello's contract ends after the 2012 European Championship and McClaren said: "Harry's credentials are as good as anybody else's. I say the England manager has to be experienced, he has to have European experience, and he has to have won something. Harry fits the bill in all of those."

Redknapp returned to the Tottenham dugout following minor heart surgery as Spurs overcame Villa on Monday.

He managed Tottenham in the 2010-11 Champions League, including a famous 3-1 victory over Internazionale at White Hart Lane, and won the FA Cup at Portsmouth in 2008.