Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp does not believe Manchester City are a better side than his own despite seeing the Blues pip Spurs in the race for Champions League football by beating them 1-0 at Eastlands last night.
City's top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League and a place in Europe's elite club competition was secured thanks to Peter Crouch's 30th-minute own goal.
It came almost exactly a year after the striker had scored the winner in the same fixture last season to clinch Tottenham's Champions League qualification at City's expense.
It is a different story this time, with Spurs lying sixth in the table with two games to go and nine points behind fourth-placed City, who Redknapp expects will continue spending heavily on new signings over the summer.
But as far as the 64-year-old is concerned, Roberto Mancini's current group of players are in no way superior to what he is working with at White Hart Lane.
"It seems to me they can go as far as they want to go," Redknapp said. "The sky is the limit.
"They have an owner who can spend anything he wants and they could go out and buy another four or five world-class players in the summer and try to win the Champions League. It won't be beyond them.
"They have good players already but I wouldn't say they are any better than us to be truthful."
Tottenham were without Gareth Bale, whose disrupted season was ended on Saturday when he sustained ankle ligament damage in the 1-1 draw with Blackpool.
"If Bale hadn't got injured, I think we would have been very close," Redknapp added. "There is very little in it."
Luka Modric wasted a glorious chance before Crouch put the ball into his own net and City goalkeeper Joe Hart produced a superb save to deny Steven Pienaar immediately after the interval.
Spurs have now won only one of their last 10 league matches in a disappointing end to a season which has included so many highs but drifted away alarmingly in the last few weeks.
Redknapp has been left to rue the injuries and loss of form of key personnel, but feels the team have still been performing well and remains optimistic for the future.
"The biggest problems in this run where we have fallen out of the top four are that we lost Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart has suddenly become a bit jaded due to the World Cup and not having a pre-season," Redknapp said.
"When they were in top form we were killing teams off as well as playing good football.
"Not too many teams play better than we do. That means a lot to me. I enjoy watching us play. I would rather that than us play awful football and keep lumping the ball.
"I want to enjoy the last few years I have got in football."
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