Harry Redknapp is a wily old fox in and he has been up to his gentle mind games again ahead of his side’s visit to Aston Villa.

After scoring nine past Wigan last weekend, Redknapp knows that the hype and expectation levels around his men have gone into orbit so what does he do? Shoot them down of course.

And the White Hart Lane manager’s weapon of choice is naturally City.

When the Independent mused about Spurs’ top four credentials and those of Martin O’Neill’s Villa, heard-it-all-before Harry was off the mark more quickly than Jermain Defoe against the Latics.

“Man City will still be favourites, they’ve got a fantastic squad,” he said, passing the buck as adroitly as any of his players shifts the ball. “Us and Villa are still trying to push into that area.”

According to the Guardian, via an Italian website, our chances of proving Harry to be a soothsayer, as well as very good Premier League manager, will improve in January when Guti arrives from Real Madrid.

The paper reports that according to Calciomercato.it Guti has ‘been having English lessons to prepare for his January move to Manchester City’.

No doubt there will a lot more of the same kind of story in tomorrow’s publications. We have already calculated that if in the New Year Mark Hughes buys everyone with whom he has been linked then the first team squad will be wearing triple digits on their backs!