Megson relishing Spurs clash

02 October 2009 14:23
Gary Megson is relishing seeing how his Bolton Wanderers side compares to big-spending Spurs when the teams meet this weekend. While Megson operates on a tight budget at the Reebok Stadium, his counterpart Harry Redknapp has been given significant funds to overhaul his squad. Bolton's manager concedes it is little surprise to see the North Londoners near the top of the table considering Redknapp has spent £50million on strikers alone. Megson believes with the likes of Spurs and Manchester City trying to break into the 'top four' that many clubs are going to find themselves disappointed at missing out on UEFA Champions League football. Huge task"It is a huge task for our players," said Megson. "But one we're looking forward to because it gives us a chance to gauge ourselves against a club that has maybe spent £200million. "And when you spend £50million on centre-forwards, I don't think it's any great surprise to see they have done so well so far this season. "They've started the season brilliantly, and they're a side capable of pushing into the top four, although it is getting tighter and tighter up at the top. "We might have to start talking about a top six or seven before too long. "Although the top four is getting stronger, the teams below are spending incredible amounts of money to enable them to get into the Champions League. "It's great for the Premier League, and it will cause one or two headaches for the teams that do expect to get into the Champions League through spending that amount of money. "But for everybody else, it just makes life harder and harder." Spurs put Burnley to the sword last weekend with a convincing 5-0 success over the Premier League new-boys on home soil. Options Megson concedes with so many options at Redknapp's disposal one of his main battles is deciding which starting XI he goes with. "The problem is you don't know what team Harry will put out. He has options all over the shop," he added. "The players Harry has brought in are all top class. I saw them play against Hull and the football was absolutely out of this world. "Hull couldn't handle (Jermain) Defoe and (Robbie) Keane dropping into the gap between the midfield and the back four. "They won by (scoring) five and it could have been double that, and then they did the same against Burnley at the weekend. "One of the problems you have with Tottenham is if you drop deep you are going to struggle against the height of (Peter) Crouch, and with the ability of Keane to operate all over. "And then if you squeeze up you are going to have issues with the lightning pace of (Aaron) Lennon and Defoe."

Source: SKY_Sports