Kranjcar and Defoe red-hot for Spurs

NIKO KRANJCAR and Jermain Defoe were on target as Tottenham returned to winning ways and frustrated Manchester City at White Hart Lane in a clash of Champions League hopefuls last night.

The Spurs pair struck either side of half-time for Spurs’ first win since the 9-1 demolition of Wigan nearly a month ago, with Kranjcar rounding off the victory with his second of the night in stoppage time.

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was full of praise for Lennon after the match, but felt Kranjcar was unlucky to miss out on the man-of-the-match award.

“I would think Niko Kranjcar must have been close,” Redknapp said. “I don’t know what he’s got to do to get a ’man of the match’ after that performance.

“He was fantastic, Aaron was brilliant. They all worked well, the whole team defended well, every one of them. We were strong. It was a great performance.

“The little man (Lennon), we have to keep giving him the ball – that’s what I keep telling them to do, give it to him till he’s sick of it and if you keep supplying him with the ball he’ll keep creating chances for you.”

Redknapp added: “That was as good as we’ve played over the 90 minutes. We never let off. All the chances were created by us, it was a great performance by us.”

Mark Hughes’ City slipped to eighth in the Barclays Premier League on the back of their defeat, but Redknapp believes they have a bright future.

“They’re a strong side,” he said. “I honestly believe in the next four or five years I could see them going on to win the championship because of the backing they’ve got. I think they’ll get stronger and stronger with Mark.

“But we were the better team tonight, no doubt about it. We thoroughly deserved our win.”

Kranjcar felt Tottenham were fully deserving of their three points.

“Throughout the 90 minutes we were the better team, we created better chances and deserved to win the game,” he said.

“The last three games, especially the two away games (draw against Aston Villa and Everton), we had great performances but didn’t get the results.

“We believe we have a squad and talented players who can achieve big goals this season and we hope we will.”

England winger Aaron Lennon was named man-of-the-match after proving a constant menace.

“Throughout the season, it’s been my most consistent season and I hope it continues,” the former Leeds man said afterwards.

When asked what he put his rich vein of form down to, he replied: “Fitness. And also the team’s playing well. It’s the best squad we’ve had and from the start of the year we’ve played great football and that’s helping me as well.”

TOTTENHAM: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto (Bale 90), Lennon, Huddlestone, Palacios, Kranjcar, Defoe (Jenas 90), Crouch.

MAN CITY: Given, Richards, Onuoha, Toure, Sylvinho, Ireland, De Jong (Petrov 71), Barry, Tevez, Adebayor, Robinho (Santa Cruz 59).

Referee: Alan Wiley (Staffordshire).