Tottenham's summer signing Luka Modric believes a top-five finish is a realistic aim.
Although Spurs have climbed off the foot of the table following Harry Redknapp's arrival, Sunday's 1-0 home defeat sees them level with third-from-bottom Sunderland on 15 points.
The loss has not dented Modric's optimism as the 23-year-old Croatia international still believes the club should be focussing on how high they can finish in the table, rather than concentrating solely on avoiding the drop.
"We have a huge job on our hands, but all the players believe we can continue to rise up the table, and to aim for the top five is realistic," Modric told Spurs' monthly magazine Hotspur.
"That will secure us European football again next season. Then, when we reach that milestone, we can push again. There is still so much to come from the team this season."

Once again we are in a game in which we defend our Carling Cup against Watford, the quarter finals to be exact. It’s getting close to the final now, so what will we do? After our last league game against Everton which saw us lose 1-0 at home, I hope that we can come out and win. Playing a team in a lower division by no means guarantees success, but I would have willingly traded this game in for the points against Everton. Everton have now won at The Lane in their last three visits.

Right, now a little about Watford. They currently sit in 20th place in the championship, and are up to now having a bit of an indifferent type of season. They were formed as a club in 1878, and turned professional in 1885 and their current boss is Brendan Rodgers. Spurs legend Pat Jennings started his career with The Hornets, making a total of 52 appearances for the club.

The last time that we played was 17 March 2007 and we were at home and we won 3-1, our scorers on that day were JJ, Paul Robinson and Ghaly. We have played them twice before in this competition winning two and losing one. The game on the 17th last year, Robbo’s goal was a classic. He took a free kick just outside his own area, it went over everyone’s heads including the Watford players all of whom were left it thinking that their keeper Foster would get it, but he didn’t. Thereafter every time Robbo got the ball the shout went up “SHOOT!” That free kick was adjudged to be a distance of 88m.

Our figures against them in all competitions are
PLAYED 51
WON 33
DRAWN 10
LOST 8
FOR 130
AGAINST 50
Those figures are very much in our favour. I know cup games are a one off, but I think we will have too much for Watford to deal with. Well I hope so!

COME ON YOU SPURS

By Mike (journeyman)