Can Tottenham Hotspur really win the Premier League? Harry
Redknapp wants us to believe they can.

In his post-match interview after last night's win against
Aston Villa, the Spurs boss claimed: "If we keep up the form we're in at
the moment we'll win the league."

This, of course, is rubbish. If everybody maintains their form
Spurs will come second behind City.

But it was a measure of the feelgood factor at White Hart
Lane, following eight wins from nine games, that the manager felt emboldened to
make such a claim.

Actually, he has done this before - in July 2010
then again several months later

Two victories, two clean sheets, two winless streaks broken.

England have ended a run of 31 years without beating the World Cup holders, and of 43 years without a win against Sweden.

All very good, but these wins will only be infused with real significance if things go well at Euro 2012.

Was this the week England learned to beat good opposition playing controlled, intelligent football? Or was it just a couple of rather featureless matches that happened to go our way?

The dangers of claiming to 'learn' things from a single match are obvious, but it seems clear that England can play in a 4-3-3,

When Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid from Manchester
United in 2009, he faced a tough task justifying his world record price tag.

Two-and-a-half seasons and just 105 games later, Ronaldo has
reached 100 goals for the club.

He brought up his century on Wednesday night with a brace
against Lyon, including a viciously powerful free-kick.

It is a staggering achievement, which shows Real Madrid
have achieved the impossible and got themselves an £80 million bargain.

In a world where Andy Carroll costs a cool £35 million and
Charles N'Zogbia sets you back £10m, surely Ronaldo classifies as an

As the summer transfer window nears its final
stages, something strange is happening.

Many of the moves that were 'definitely'
happening have failed to materialise. A clutch of big names find themselves
languishing at clubs, long after they have made plain their intention to move
on.

Wesley Sneijder, Carlos Tevez, Emmanuel
Adebayor... all were expected to be off within days of the window opening. None
have gone.

Behind this strange phenomenon, there has been
a fundamental shift in the way these players approach transfer negotiations.

Footballers have long been accused of being
mercenaries,

The
Champions League group stage draw is as much a part of the competition's drama
as any of the match days.

It might
be easy to mock the suited UEFA bureaucrats bumbling their way through
technical regulations, but the draw itself is a glorious combination of
tension and excitement.

This
year, some famous names have been (re-)introduced into the mix, and lurk
menacingly in the lower reaches of the draw - Manchester City in Pot 3, Borussia
Dortmund and Napoli in Pot 4.

To help
you work out who you would like your team to be drawn with, I have given European rankings based on UEFA's five-year

It's transfer deadline day tomorrow, and if it all feels a little wearingly familiar, there's a good reason for that.

The final day of every January and August should be made an official bank holiday for lovers of half-baked half-truths, baseless conjecture and outright lies.

A few deals will no doubt get done, and some of them might even be important.

But you can expect that same old feeling of anticlimax: like hanging around at a rubbish gig next to an excitable reveller who insists the Beatles are about to come on. Then finally, after hours of waiting, Kula Shaker take the stage and you

Last week saw the strangest transfer of the year - a deal that could end up sealing Sunderland manager Steve Bruce's fate.

Asamoah Gyan's move to Al Ain saw the Black Cats net a world record £6m loan fee, but they ended up humiliated.

Of particular embarrassment to Bruce was the fact he seemed to be the last person to find out about it.

On Saturday morning the papers ran quotes from Bruce saying he had cleared the air with Gyan and ended the rumours - "absolute rubbish," Bruce said - about him leaving the club.

A couple of hours later we heard that Gyan had signed for Al Ain.

Bruce lamented

After Roberto Mancini accused Carlos Tevez of refusing to
play and declared him "finished" at Manchester City, here's a look at the club's options.

OFFLOAD HIM

The most likely outcome, even though City were unable to get
rid of Tevez in the summer. Circumstance means they will have to reduce their
asking price to a level his suitors can meet.

The main obstacle is finding a club Tevez wants to join.
Nobody can force him to leave City, and it would be surprising to see any
European giants (even Internazionale) go in for such a disruptive player.

The teams who can afford him (Anzhi Makachkala,