New Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp is targeting one of Spain’s finest players for the January transfer window.

Since taking over at White Hart Lane last week, Redknapp has been given control over recruitment of new players for the club, with Spur’s owners promising to give him the financial backing he needs to take his team to the top of the Premier League.

Redknapp’s first target will be former Mallorca striker, Daniel Guiza, who finished last season as the top scorer in La Liga with 27 goals. The Spaniard recently joined Fenerbahce, but has attracted attention from a number of Premiership clubs, including big-spending Manchester City.

Guiza has claimed that he is happy working with former Spanish national coach Luis Aragones at Fenerbahce and has no intention of leaving Turkey to compete in England.

“Not once have I spoken with this club. I am very happy at Fenerbahçe and I have no interest in leaving,” Aragones told the Guardian.

Aside from looking for increased penetration on attack, Redknapp will also be looking to shore up his defence during the January transfer window. Spurs are currently struggling at the back, with keeper Huerelho Gomes’ tendency to stray off his line costing the club dearly in recent matches.

Tony Adams began his reign at the helm of Portsmouth with a loss against Liverpool yesterday evening after a late Steven Gerrard penalty helped the home side to a 1-0 victory.

Portsmouth put in a determined performance in the first half, consistently challenging Liverpool in the air and defending well to deflect several slick Liverpool attacks.

Pompey had a chance to take the lead late in the first half when Papa Baba Diop found himself on the receiving end of an airborne Sean Davis cross 6 yards from the Liverpool goal. The opportunity was wasted when Diop made contact with the ball, but struck it directly into the hands of the Liverpool keeper.

Good goalkeeping by Portsmouth’s David James saw Liverpool denied repeatedly in the second half, as the Reds lauched wave after wave of attack.

Portsmouth looked to be on the verge of pulling a point out of the match when Diop decided to do an impersonation of Superman in his penalty area, launching himself hands-first at a corner kick by Aurelio.

James was unable to keep the resulting penalty kick out of his goal, and the Reds emerged from the game with 3 points, holding onto their 3 point lead over Chelsea in the Premiership.

Former assistant manager Tony Adams has been appointed Harry Redknapp’s successor at Portsmouth following the latter’s sudden departure to Tottenham Hotspur.

Adams, who has been at Fratton Park for over two years, acted as the club’s caretaker during last weekend’s home draw against Fulham.

“I’m ready, I was always ready,” Adams said at a Fratton Park news conference. “It’s fantastic. I’m very honoured, it’s a great opportunity and one I would be mad to turn down.”

Adams, who has previous coaching experience with Wycombe and Feyenoord, is in for a baptism of fire in the Premier League, with his club due to take on high-flying Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.

“I’m scared to bits, of course, but another bit of me is really excited. I couldn’t sleep last night. We’ve got some great players here at Portsmouth and I’ve been kind of responsible, with Harry, for bringing them to the club.”

Adams pledged to keep the current Portsmouth squad intact after fans voiced fears that the club would suffer a player exodus in the wake of Redknapp’s resignation.

“They’re here because they’re good players,” Adams concluded. “My job is to keep them here and to get them to play well.”

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has called for English football to emulate its continental cousins and give players a break during the festive season.

While English clubs have fared well in Europe over recent years, Hughes believes that the current season scheduling which sees top players contesting up to two demanding fixtures a week in the Premiership and Champions League, may be detrimental to the interests of English football.

“I think English teams are at a disadvantage when it comes to the business end of the season and trophies are up for grabs,” Hughes told Sky Sports. “Most of the time British players and British-based players are going into these games not in the peak of fitness because of the demands they’ve placed their bodies under from the beginning of the season to the end.”

While a mid-winter break would not reduce the number of fixtures players participated in, it could provide them with a valuable opportunity to recharge themselves for the brutal demands of the latter part of the football season.

“I think it’s something worth looking at. It’s been mooted in previous seasons but nothing’s come of it so maybe there’s an opportunity to look at it again,” Hughes concluded.

Liverpool notched up one of its greatest achievements in the last two decades yesterday, consigning Chelsea to a rare home defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool’s one goal victory was only the club’s second at Stamford Bridge in 19 years, and ended Chelsea’s unbeaten run of 83 matches at home.

While some will say that there was more than a little good fortune involved in Xabi Alonso’s 10th minute goal, deflected off Chelsea defender Jose Bosingwa to wrong-foot the ‘keeper, even critics were admiring of the composure Liverpool showed to hold onto the lead for 80 minutes.

“To win at Chelsea and stay top of the table unbeaten is a massive message for the other teams,” triumphant manager Rafael Benitez said after watching his club pull into a 3 point lead at the top of the Premiership table. “It was a massive game and to come here with the mentality we had and with the players showing the character they did, it was a big boost for the rest of the season.”

“We have belief, we have quality and we have shown by coming from behind in other games this season, that we have character.”

Liverpool will have an opportunity to extend its Premiership lead to 6 points when the club takes on Portsmouth at Anfield on Wednesday.

Manchester United walked away from Goodison Park with only a single point to show for their efforts against Everton in the Premier League yesterday.

Scottish striker Darren Fletcher scored first in a bad-tempered encounter, putting Manchester United ahead in the 22nd minute of the match.

Despite United’s attempts to close Everton out of the match, the home side refused to give up, and pulled the equaliser out of the bag in the 63rd minute when Nemanja Vidic headed a Phil Neville cross into the back of the Manchester United net.

With tempters flaring, and the crowd contributing to the onfield tension by baiting the players, Wayne Rooney soon found himself on the wrong side of the referee, with a yellow card prompting Sir Alex Ferguson to pull his form striker off the park.

“The way the referee was behaving I feared Wayne may be sent off - for no reason of course,” Ferguson said after the match. “It was just the way the crowd were reacting in trying to get him booked.”

United were unable to penetrate the Everton defence in the final minutes of the match, allowing the home side to secure the draw and a point from one of the toughest fixtures they’ll play this season.

“A point against United at this moment is as good as a win. I was pleased with the lads,” Everton boss David Moyes said fter the final whistle.

English football fans are looking forward to one of the biggest matches of the year as Chelsea prepare to host Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in a battle for Premiership dominance.

Chelsea enter the crucial tie on the back of a morale-boosting mid-week victory over AS Roma, and manager Luiz Felipe Scolari believes that his side will be able to contain a club notorious for pulling off last-minute comebacks.

“They fight not for 90 minutes but for 100 minutes. They have won four games after 85 minutes,” Scolari was quoted as saying by the AFP. “We need to play very well and pay attention until the referee finishes the game.”

Liverpool, meanwhile, face a number of injury concerns going into the Chelsea clash following injuries to Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso during their midweek draw against Atletico Madrid.

“Gerrard, Xavi and Robbie all went off in the second half and they have some problems. Keane is having muscular problems but it is not that serious. Alonso has a knock on his knee and Gerrard has a niggle too,” manager Rafael Benitez told reporters. “They are a bit tired and we are trying to keep them fresh and 100 percent fit.”

William Hill has priced Chelsea the 10/11 favourite to win Sunday’s match and re-take the lead in the premiership. Liverpool have been generously priced at 10/3, while a draw will pay out 11/5.

Hull’s dream start to the 2008/2009 Premier League season continued this weekend as they defeated West Ham United 1-0 to secure third place on the league table.

Michael Turner scored the only game of the match, heading home an Andy Dawson corner to help his side to their fifth league win of the season.

“There’s people dancing in the dressing room so we don’t have to do a warm-down any more,” Hull manager Phil Brown said after the match. “It’s a good atmosphere at the moment and long may it continue.”

While Hull was celebrating its win over West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur somehow managed to sink deeper into the Premiership quagmire, losing 2-1 to lowly Stoke City. The result left Tottenham right at the bottom of the Premiership table with 2 points from 8 games.

With Tottenham 5 points adrift of an escape from the relegation zone, coach Juande Ramos may soon find himself at the end of the nearest dole queue as the club attempts to resurrect its season.

“We need to work very hard to improve the situation,” Ramos said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to explain the situation, but when the team wins one game, two matches, it’s possible to improve the situation.”

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is concerned about the impact Fernando Torres’ absence will have on the club as they head into this weekend’s Premier League encounter against Wigan Athletic.

Torres picked up a hamstring injury during Spain’s recent World Cup qualifiers, and is likely to miss out on the next three matches for his club, including next weekend’s crucial Premiership match against Chelsea.

“I am very disappointed about this, because it now looks like we will lose Fernando for three very important games,” Benitez said. “We have Wigan at home and Chelsea away in the league and Atletico Madrid away in the Champions League, so to lose any players is a big blow.”

While the match against log leaders Chelsea is Benitez’s primary concern, the Liverpool manager was also quick to acknowledge the threat posed by Wigan, who will be fielding ex-Liverpool striker Emile Heskey.

“We know the Premier League is very difficult and all the teams have something, and can be strong in the air and play with determination,” Benitez said. “When they come to Anfield you know it will be really difficult so we have to be alert and be careful next time.”

Harry Redknapp has lashed out at the England Under-21 side in the wake of this week’s 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

A 2-2 draw against Wales by the English Under-21 team earlier this week, their 27th unbeaten match in succession, was apparently not good enough for the Portsmouth manager, who believes that the team is falling short of its duty to produce future stars.

“While we roar on to the 2010 finals in South Africa, there is a more worrying situation happening immediately beneath the top level,” Redknapp said in The Sun. “England’s Under-21 team are not producing what they should - despite qualifying for their Euro 2009 finals.”

Despite the fact that the draw against Wales resulted in a 5-4 aggregate win, Redknapp was unimpressed with the young England players, and pointed to a dearth of players of the quality of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney.

“On paper, everyone is celebrating the 5-4 aggregate win over Wales. But I look through that young Lions team and I see good players, but no-one outstanding,” Redknapp concluded. “The Under-21s is all about fine-tuning players for the national team. In the end, England got through courtesy of an own goal after Wales absolutely battered them.”