• Premier League

Redknapp optimistic over fourth place

ESPN staff
May 3, 2012
Luka Modric celebrates his long-range strike © PA Photos
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Harry Redknapp remains optimistic Tottenham will retain fourth place in the Premier League.

Spurs won 4-1 at the Reebok Stadium on Wednesday to maintain their slender hold on fourth place and move to within a point of third-placed Arsenal.

''It was an important game for us and I thought we played ever so well in the first half - we dominated it from start to finish," Redknapp said. "We came in only 1-0 up, could have been two or three.

''But credit to Bolton they came out second half and came at us a bit more, got the ball forward and they got the goal. At that stage the crowd was with them and they suddenly had a great little spell. It looked like they were the more likely team but we then showed fantastic ability on the break, pace, and really punished them.''

Bolton's defeat, in what was their game in hand on their relegation rivals, left them in the bottom three.

Manager Owen Coyle said: ''We were more than right in it, we were the team on top, but my frustration is this was self-inflicted, as good as Tottenham are. We shot ourselves in the foot. In a two-minute period we cost ourselves a game we could easily have won.

''But there are positives to take from the game, from going against a team playing for Champions League football. We made them look second best for periods of that game. It is not a nice feeling but it happens in football, particularly in the best league in the world.

''We have got to dust ourselves down. We have two huge games now to decide our own fate.''

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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