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Theo promises to ruin Harry’s opening night
James Olley, Sports Correspondent28 Oct 2008
Theo Walcott has pledged to ruin Harry Redknapp's honeymoon at Tottenham in tomorrow night's north London derby.
The Arsenal striker played under Redknapp at Southampton and is aware of the lift his arrival has given to Spurs' struggling players.
Tottenham recorded their opening League win of the season against Bolton on Sunday.
New manager Redknapp, who will officially take charge of the team for the first time tomorrow, has said they will “give it a real go” at Emirates Stadium.
But Walcott was in the Gunners team beaten 5-1 in the Carling Cup in their last meeting with Spurs and is determined to make amends by stemming his rivals' recovery.
The 19-year-old winger said: “Tottenham is the biggest game of the whole season for the fans, so if we can do well at home in front of our supporters it will be brilliant.
“We will not worry about bringing back memories of the cup semi-final. We will just be concentrating on how to exploit their negatives. We just have to get right at them.
“I have worked with Harry Redknapp and he is a brilliant person to be around. I am sure he will get everyone's confidence up — but hopefully we will put that back down tomorrow.”
The Gunners are four points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool after Sunday's 2-0 victory at West Ham and Walcott added: “The title will go down to the wire and there are going to be a few teams in the race. No game is easy because every team in the Premier League is difficult now, it is so competitive.”
For Tottenham, captain Ledley King has refused to rule himself out of tomorrow's match, which would be his third appearance in a week despite concerns over his knee injury.
Redknapp's predecessor, Juande Ramos, had insisted that the 28-year-old defender could only manage one full game every two or three weeks.
King also hinted that Redknapp's arrival would add intensity to the competition for starting places within the squad.
He said: “The players have to start again and everyone has to perform and that's when you get the best out of players.”
Fellow centre-back Jonathan Woodgate hopes to recover from the groin injury he sustained in the UEFA Cup defeat by Udinese last week — and that kept him out of the home win over Bolton.
Redknapp is also seeking to strengthen his backroom staff having already recruited Kevin Bond as a coach and confirmed Clive Allen as reserve team boss.
He wants to bring in former Spurs and England midfielder Tim Sherwood, who said today he is undecided about whether to quit his job as a TV pundit with Setanta.
Sherwood said: “It's very flattering. If I ever wanted to get back into football the club I would choose would be Tottenham and the manager I would work with would be Harry Redknapp.
“It is the biggest club I ever played for but I owe it to Harry to want to give it one million per cent of my time.”
Reader views (3)
Phil, we are all entitled to our views. I too would like to see more from Theo Walcott, but I am impressed with his improving form, especially his recent hat trick for England, not bad for a 19 year old. I base my comments on realism, you must agree that Bale is a quality left-back & Spurs will be weaker without him, as neither Assou-Ekotto or Gilberto are quality replacements. Incidentally, I am not the same person as Rob Hotspurs, who is a Spurs fan & one of the more sensible ones.
- Rob Gooner, North London, 28/10/2008 15:39
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have you heard the latest from rob the gooner (hotspur), he is so up his own views,it makes you think why he is not a pundit on tv,look Jol has left Spurs so stop going on about it,Walcott is not a class player yet,it has taken him 3 years too reach where he is and he is still not a regular starter,very poor decsision makin at times too,he has pace, but is very weak at times and doesnt often play the full game to a top level consistently.oh and another of your prediction come true again,why dont you start doing the stars and apply for mystic megs job when she retires
- Phil, bristol, 28/10/2008 13:09
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Theo Walcott could be the key to Arsenal winning the derby, as in the absence of Gareth Bale, Tottenhams other left backs are very poor indeed. I think Tottenham will put up a great fight, but will be severly hamstrung by their lack of quality forwards.
- Rob Gooner, North London, 28/10/2008 09:57
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