English Premier League: Tottenham Will Not Challenge Arsenal This Season

It has been a very similar story at White Hart Lane this summer. Tottenham Hotspur have got in some fresh faces and have looked to build a squad. But, all of a sudden, they're about to lose Dimitar Berbatov after having lost Robbie Keane. This could well be a massive set back for Juande Ramos and Tottenham Hotspur in their ambition to overtake Arsenal.

I might be writing this particular article after just one game, but make no mistake—I had the same opinion before the match, and the game simply re-enforced my opinion. Tottenham played Middlesbrough last evening and were under-par, creating few chances and looked very unimaginative. What's more is that they were very poor when it came to defending.

Middlesbrough are not the best team when it comes to attacking, but Tottenham seemed to rely heavily on Jonathan Woodgate and I only wonder what would have happened if he hadn't been there yesterday. They were all over the place.

Tottenham have been active in the summer transfer window, bringing in the likes of Giovani dos Santos, Luka Modric, Heurelho Gomes and David Bentley but none of the aforementioned even got into the game to make in impact. Maybe dos Santos was decent, but I always felt that he was going to find the physical nature of the Premier League very difficult.

Luka Modric was touted as the next big thing on White Hart Lane. What I'm very interested about is, when the time came, only two clubs seemed to be in real contention when it came to signing him from Dinamo Zagreb. He chose Tottenham for obvious reasons over Newcastle, but he has to impose himself on games—this is not international football or the Croatian League where he can get time and space to measure a pass and impose himself easily.

Tottenham have yet again missed a trick in the transfer window. You could put that down to the unexpected departure of Robbie Keane, but I can't see where the goals are going to come from for the Spurs. They sold Jermain Defoe in January and now look on losing Dimitar Berbatov, and after having lost Keane—Darren Bent seems to be the only out and out striker for them.

They have not re-enforced the defense either.

At the back, without Ledley King the Spurs look woeful. King, though, has struggled to stay fit after a number of injuries over the past couple of seasons. That leaves Tottenham with the unreliable Michael Dawson and the ever consistent Woodgate.

Michael Dawson, in many ways is the English Philippe Senderos. He's well built, but makes far too many mistakes during a game. At left-back, Asou-Ekkotto looked absolutely all over the place.

People talk about squad-depth to win Championships but making the top-four also requires some depth in a squad. Tottenham have a decent starting eleven, with stress being emphasised on "decent." Didier Zokora was deployed on the right-side of defense yesterday due to Alan Hutton's absence and he looked out of depth as well.

When a manager plays a central midfielder in a wing-back position due to one injury, you know the squad doesn't have depth.

Tottenham, as one fan said, seemed to be the "Newcastle of the South." He's absolutely correct. They spend considerable amounts of money and promise to deliver every season, only to leave their fans bitterly disappointed.

People forget that this is a club which brought out a DVD to commemorate a win over Arsenal in the Carling Cup.

I think that when people look outside the top four, they focus only on the best 11 players available to them. The fact is that the gap between the top four and the rest is massive.

It took Everton some phenomenal performances and a very much below-par Liverpool to break into it a few seasons back. But, for the foreseeable future, I don't see it happening with Tottenham Hotspur.

Their players seem intent on moving to Manchester United, their fans always believe that they can overtake Arsenal and their board always believes in signing players year-on-year to achieve success on the pitch.

The basis of a good team is stability. Over the years, Tottenham have had zero stability. They seem to be revamping existing squads and rebuilding every two years and that is simply not a recipe for success.

This media frenzy about Tottenham has to end. They''re a decent side on their day, but are far to inconsistent to even get a UEFA Cup spot.

So, before people start making brave predictions about "Tottenham making into the 'big four,'" I suggest that they think again because I certainly cannot see the Spurs breaking into the monopoly that is the "Big Four."

Above all, I definitely don't see them finishing above Arsenal this season.