SOCCER:HARRY REDKNAPP has never had it so good. The Tottenham Hotspur manager continued to break new ground at the club with Saturday's derby triumph at Arsenal and, for his next trick, he intends to gatecrash Europe's most exclusive club.

Victory over Werder Bremen at White Hart Lane tonight would take his team into the Champions League’s last 16, to further gild the club’s debut appearance in the competition, and they are strongly favoured to do so.

Werder are without a goal so far in November, they have won only three times in 16 games in all competitions and are 12th in the Bundesliga. The manager, Thomas Schaaf, has nine players out injured and a 10th, the veteran midfielder Torsten Frings is suspended. Schaaf has been forced to name seven reserves in his travelling party and two of them, defender Dominik Schmidt and midfielder Felix Kroos, are tipped to start. They have not yet kicked a ball for Werder’s first team.

Redknapp cut a relaxed figure as he bantered with the German media about 1966 and all that. “They were a good team, that Germany team – but not quite good enough,” Redknapp said, with a wide smile, before musing about whether the ball really had crossed the line. Redknapp was able to locate a fresh reason to be cheerful. Jermain Defoe, whom Redknapp rates as “without a doubt our biggest goalscorer”, returned from a 10-week lay-off against Arsenal and his second-half cameo helped turn the game.

“If he could have a run of banging the goals in he could really push us into the title race,” Redknapp said.

Redknapp is expected to be without Rafael van der Vaart – the midfielder suffered a knock to his foot at Arsenal and is awaiting the results of a scan – and so Redknapp’s principal selection teaser concerns whether to use Defoe from the start.

The manager lavished the highest praise on Defoe yesterday when he mentioned him in the same breath as some of the greats. “I have never worked with a more single-minded goalscorer,” Redknapp said. “He has always been like that . . . Jimmy Greaves, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer – they were all like that.”

Redknapp is keen for his players to believe everything is possible, and including winning the Premier League title. As for the Champions League, Tottenham might feel they are a decent draw away from the quarter-finals. “If you have real belief in your dressingroom,” Redknapp said, “you can achieve anything.”