JustChelsea.com

Tottenham Hotspur started their pre-season with a lesson from Villarreal at White Hart Lane this week. Guiseppe Rossi, the ex-Man Utd striker scored twice and only a consolation from Giovanni Dos Santos made the score halfway respectable.

Spurs have got a Champions League Qualifier coming up very soon but they will need to improve drastically on this performance to get through to the Group Stages.

The Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has revealed today that he believed that he had an agreement with Joe Cole that he would join Tottenham before the ex-Chelsea star went to the World Cup, but he changed his mind at the last minute when he was offered more money by Liverpool!

“We are disappointed to miss out on Joe Cole because he was a great free transfer – he must have had a better offer from Liverpool,” Redknapp said.

The Tottenham striker Robbie Keane was an instant hit at Celtic when he arrived on loan in January, and scored an amazing 16 goals in 19 games for the Bhoys, but his boss Harry Redknapp has ruled out any chance of another loan to the Scottish giants.

Redknapp has made it clear that Keane will only leave White Hart Lane if someone puts in a reasonable bid, and he wants a return on their investment rather than loaning him out for nothing.

The Tottenham defender Gareth Bale thinks that Joe Cole would bring some invaluable Champions League experience to the Spurs side as they prepare to play in Europe’s Premier competition next season.

Harry Redknapp has made no secret of the fact that he would love Cole to join him at White Hart Lane, and Bale backs him up completely.

Chelsea can be proud of the fact that Joe Cole has joined John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole into Fabio Capello’s England squad to fly to South Africa next week, but our great rivals Tottenham have equalled the same figure, and good luck to them/

With Joe Cole’s contract negotiations with Chelsea on hold, he is now free to talk to other English clubs with a view to a Bosman transfer this summer.

According to two different reports this morning, either Tottenham or Man Utd are the favourites to pay him what he wants and get him for free.

I am begging Roman Abramovich and Carlo Ancelotti to put aside the “budgetary decisions” and give Cole just a little bit more to persuade him to stay.

The Chelsea striker Joe Cole is out of contract at Stamford Bridge in a couple of weeks, and there have been numerous rumours that he is being wanted by Tottenham, Man Utd and Man City, but the Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is certain that the 28 year-old won’t be going anywhere!

“I think that Joe Cole will stay here, and I rarely make a mistake,” Ancelotti said.

The fight for the coveted fourth place in the Premiership came to a climax last night as Man City hosted Tottenham, with the winners guaranteed a Champions League Qualifying place next season.

Moneybags Man City failed to rise to the occasion, but Tottenham remained calm and continued their attacking style which has got them so far this season.

Tottenham needed to take three points from this home game against Bolton to retain pole position in the race for the coveted fourth place in the Premiership, but it wasn’t as easy as anyone expected.

Bolton put up their usual resilient performance and it took an absolutely cracking goal from Tom Huddlestone to get past Jaskelainen in the Bolton goal.

Man Utd made full use of the advantage of playing first this weekend, and by beating Tottenham 3-1 they have now moved two points clear of Chelsea, who don’t play Stoke until tomorrow afternoon.

The game remained at a stalemate 0-0 at half-time, but United took the advantage through a Giggs penalty but only after Spurs had more than enough chances to take the lead.