"It's a big game, a very exciting game with two sides wanting to win. Villa are an attacking, open exciting team … They'll come with two wingers and attack us, they'll come to take us on."

Harry Redknapp's pre-match prediction could hardly have been further off the mark. With the Spurs fans providing the soundtrack of "boring, boring Villa", the visitors - who were two points behind Spurs with a game in hand - came to White Hart Lane clearly looking for a draw. The fact that the award for man of the match was a toss-up between Richard Dunne and Brad Friedel tells its own story, with Martin O'Neill describing Dunne's performance as "absolutely sensational". Although the Villa manager is no stranger to hyperbole, this was, for once, a reasonable assessment. How Man. City, beaten by Hull at the weekend, must rue the decision to sell the big Irish centre-half.

Spurs' inability to close out games was evident once again on Saturday, as what should have been three points were turned into one. Admittedly a draw was not a terrible result against a resolute if uninspiring Birmingham side, who have not lost at home since September and have the third highest number of clean sheets in the league. Although Spurs remain in fourth, both Villa - next week's opponents - and Man. City have games in hand. That match next Saturday and the FA Cup replay with Leeds that precedes it may play a substantial role in determining whether or not 2009/10 is a season to remember.

For the second week in succession at White Hart Lane, Spurs were thwarted by a goalkeeper at the top of his game and their own lack of a cutting edge. The cup-tie against Leeds should have been put to bed inside the first half-hour, but Casper Ankergren's heroics between the posts inspired his teammates to fight on for what was in the end a deserved 2-2 draw.

"What can you do? The keeper has had an unbelievable day and will never play like that again in his life. They were miraculous saves, five or six incredible, world-class saves. They played six minutes of stoppage-time at the end of the game, four in the first half. The referee needs to book players quicker, that's the way to deal with it. It makes it difficult. They are in a difficult position, scrapping for points and Phil will go home happy but it's not for me."

Spurs are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup following a comfortable victory over Peterborough. Although the Championship side are struggling at the foot of their division, cup ties against lower league opposition can often have a "banana skin" quality to them, as Man. Utd. illustrated on Sunday. Harry Redknapp took no chances, making only a few changes to the side that last faced West Ham in the league. In fact, all five players drafted in - Hutton, Bale, Bassong, Kranjcar and Keane - are full internationals and all performed well. Both full backs gave the team an added attacking dimension, with Bale setting up two of the goals, and even Keane managing to look livelier than he has done for most of the season.

It has indeed been a joyous holiday season at White Hart Lane, with Spurs beginning the New Year in fourth. This has been accomplished on the back of four clean sheets, the first time this feat has been achieved in almost nine years. The last four games have been marked by consistency, purpose, and no small measure of attractive, flowing football. As 2010 beckons, anything less than a Champions League place by the end of the season will prove to be - on current form at least - a disappointment.

While it has hardly been goodwill to all men off the field, at least there have been glad tidings on it. A very good win against Man. City was followed in short order by victory at Ewood Park, a ground where Spurs have not enjoyed much success in recent years. And while Blackburn are admittedly a mediocre side, they had not lost at home this season since being beaten by Man. City on the opening day. As Harry Redknapp admitted, the game was not the most attractive to watch, but a second consecutive clean sheet and a berth just outside the top four will leave manager, players and fans alike enjoying the holiday spirit.

"The better reputation you get as a team, the more teams go away from home and make it difficult for you. If you are going to be a top team you have to find a way of breaking them down, that's what the top teams do, but we just couldn't unlock the door."

Harry Redknapp's post-match remarks were no doubt intended to accentuate the positive, but unfortunately contained no answer to the conundrum posed by the home defeat against Wolves. Following on from Stoke's victory in October, another physical, workmanlike team has left White Hart Lane with all three points by virtue of greater muscle, organization and desire.

With that other team from north London losing at the weekend, a point against Aston Villa was enough to leave Spurs in third place. In fact, given the number of chances that the team created, a win looked the more likely result as the game wore on, with Harry Redknapp reflecting that:

"We dominated and I'm sure Martin (O'Neill) was happier to hear the final whistle than I was. There was only one team going to win it in the second half and it was just a case of getting the goal - once we equalised I was sure we were going to go on and win it ... We knew it would be tough, they are a good side and they've had some great results at Villa Park but it was one-way traffic in the second half. I was delighted with how we played, we pushed them back, played some great football and made all the chances."

Once in a while you get game where a team is flattered by the scoreline and that was certainly true of Wigan on Sunday. Spurs could quite easily have been in double figures and Wigan's "goal" resulted from a blatant handball by Paul Scharner. Thankfully Robbie Keane was not on the field at the time. Given events earlier in the week and his penchant for appealing decisions, the Irishman might have been in danger of suffering an aneurysm.