Harry Redknapp is convinced that Tottenham will bounce back from Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Brom and win back the fourth place that he thinks his side deserves.
Tottenham's hopes of securing a second successive season in the Champions League took a blow when they had to settle for a point thanks to Simon Cox's 81st-minute equaliser. The draw leaves Spurs one point behind fourth-place Manchester City, who play their game in hand at Blackburn on Monday.
"We won't be deflated by the result. It's not the end of the world, everybody has results like that," Redknapp said. "We had the game in the bag and then the kid hit a worldy. It was unreal. He could try that every day for the next six years and he would not be able to do that again."
Defeats to the likes of West Ham, Wigan and Blackpool have cost Spurs dearly this year, but they have performed well against their rivals at the top end of the table.
Redknapp believes that taking points off Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool while tackling some of the continent's biggest sides in Europe this year shows that his team merit a place in next year's Champions League.
"We belong in the top four," he said. "We battered Man City on the first day of the season and couldn't get the win. We can give anyone a game. We've drawn with the top teams but they were games we could easily have won.
"We pushed Man City all the way. At the start of the year I thought Man City would win the league.
"I saw them bring in Yaya Toure and David Silva and all these people. I thought 'bloody hell!' All these people were world-class and mega in terms of cost and wages. Then they brought Dzeko in for £28million."
This week Redknapp called on Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to spend big this summer, even if they only make the Europa League, but even the Spurs boss himself admits the exorbitant demands of some clubs is likely to rule them out of signing some of the continent's biggest names.
"It's hard finding top players," the 64-year-old said. "Clubs want crazy money. We enquired about (Villarreal striker Giuseppe) Rossi, and they were saying he's worth £35million. Crazy money. Way beyond what we can pay."
Source: PA
