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No, because their squard is simply not good enough. As we can see in the first three match of the EPL, with King and Dawson out injured they are very week defensively. We all know that Chimbonda is exceptional and I do rate Lee from the performance last year although Jol doesn't seem to like him but the key area is the two centre back and goalkeeper.

We all know that Real Madrid played with two defender a few years ago with Carlos and Salgado trying to beat the off-side trap but they were still challenging for the title because they have two good central defender and a world class keeper. Unfortunately I don't see that at Spurs, they have conceded the most goals last season as a Europe team and I think it will be the same this season.

The biggest problem is Robinson, as demonstrated in the recent England-Germany match where the two keeper is trying to make more mistake than his opponent. The difference then between Arsenal and Tottenham is that the Gunners actually have a second keeper who is premiership standard. Every time I watch Almunia play, I see a top class keeper. Good reaction, safe hands and definitely not as eccentric. If I ask anyone who is the backup keeper for Spurs now, at least half of them won't be able to answer.

Teams that achieve are usually base on defence, even the so call attack minded team will have good solid back four and keeper. Man United last season have played wonderful attacking football and had a very attacking mentallity, but they only conceded 27 in the whole season. Other team with lost of success in recently years all have very good defensive record, Chelsea won title afer title just by winning 1-0. Both Arsenal and Liverpool had success in the CL base on their defence, while scoring goals are important you can't win a football game when you let in 4 goals.

Another problem that Spurs have is width. Without Lennon, it does look like they have putting out four central midfielder just to fill the space. Marlbranque is a good player but he is naturally right footed and likes to cut inside, without someone wide on the right, it does look very narrow. When all the delivery is going through the central, not only it gives the opposite team a much easier job to do but it also limit the space that the forwards can run onto. Without wide players, the full back will tuck inside and close down the space so a forward can't turn or the path of a through ball is blocked.

This then comes to the questionable buys from Jol, where he seem to never have enough central midfield players but is satisfy with one natural winger or even zero if you don't consider Marlbranque as a wing. And of course there are more unconvincing signing like Danny Murphy, Tainio and the most recent Darren Bent. The manager also need to add more consistency into the team, winning a game then lose the next one won't get you anywhere.

Apart from having more experience, I would say that Spurs have not strengthen this year, Bent is not better than Mido and Bale has yet to prove himself at the top level while other signing is more for the future than now. I cannot see them breaking into the top four this season, if I have to make a bet, my money would rather be on Everton.

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