Redknapp: Champions League is still in reach

DEFIANCE has been the defining characteristic of Harry Redknapp’s career and the Tottenham Hotspur manager showed plenty of it as he digested a defeat that raises serious questions about his side’s prospects of disrupting the Premier League’s so-called ‘big four’.

A heavy north London derby defeat, their biggest since December 2006, not only bruised Spurs’ parochial pride, it also threw into question their hopes of achieving Champions League qualification for the first time in their history.

But Redknapp has short thrift for the doom-mongers. The Spurs manager cited 60 seconds of defensive madness, which gifted Arsenal two goals, and the absence of Luka Modric, Aaron Lennon and Jermain Defoe – all missing through injury or suspension – as mitigating circumstances.