"I'm bitterly disappointed. … I thought they played fantastic, and we really were a shadow of ourselves ... It's been a great season and I've been delighted with the performances of the players all season, but you always want to win, that's the disappointment."

While Sunday's capitulation at Burnley was a surprise, Harry Redknapp was at least able to put the defeat in perspective. Just over a year and a half ago, the manager took over a team mired in the relegation zone. In the penultimate game of this season at Eastlands, Spurs secured Champions League qualification for the first time on the back of a great performance against a Man. City side chasing the same prize. Redknapp deserves a huge amount of credit, a fact that has already been recognized in his being crowned Barclay's Manager of the Season. The statistics make impressive reading: a top four finish for the first time since 1989/90; the most wins by the team since the inception of the Premier League; and a club record haul of 70 Premier League points.

Going into Saturday's game against Bolton, Spurs had won their last five games at White Hart Lane and over the course of the season had conceded just twelve goals at home - the joint best record in the league, along with Man. Utd. Bolton, by contrast, had not scored in seven of their last nine away games and had effectively nothing to play for, with relegation fears averted and Stoke seven points ahead of them with two games left.

Although Spurs would have travelled to Manchester full of optimism on the back of two tremendous wins, the statistics favored the home team. Man. Utd. have never lost at home to Spurs in the Premiership and have the best home record in the division this season. Of the 17 Premier League meetings between the teams at Old Trafford, Utd. have won 14 and they duly recorded victory number 15 on Saturday.

After Saturday's victory at White Hart Lane, Harry Redknapp admitted that he would have been satisfied with five points from the games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man. Utd. To have taken all six before the visit to Old Trafford is not only a magnificent achievement in its own right but has also provided the perfect antidote to the disappointment of missing out on the FA Cup Final.

"We're fighting on two fronts and I would take either of them - if we do then what a fantastic season we've had. If we achieve none we've still moved forward a million percent. If we could win them both it would be incredible."

It's now looking likely that Spurs will win neither. Harry Redknapp's very slight exaggeration prior to the FA Cup semi-final about the team moving forward "a million percent" had more than a hint of pre-emptive damage control, as did his statement that "it's better than being stuck at the bottom in a relegation battle". While that is undoubtedly true and while there has undoubtedly been substantial progress under his stewardship, a 5th or 6th place finish will fall well short of the fans' expectations this season.

In all of the anticipation surrounding this month's games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man. Utd., Saturday's visit to the Stadium of Light was somewhat overlooked, not least here. Ironic, then, that it may prove to have been one of the pivotal games of Spurs' season.

It's certainly possible to point to a poor refereeing performance as one of the reasons for the 3-1 defeat. Sunderland's first penalty looked like a case of "ball to hand", while Frazier Campbell was already going to ground as Modric tried to pull out of a challenge in the box. Campbell's Ronaldoesque wink to his teammates said everything about the legitimacy of that second penalty award. In truth, however, Spurs were pretty dismal. The back four in particular were all at sea, while Bentley's and Pavlyuchenko's recent good form seemed to have deserted them.

"It is going to be a tough week. We play Portsmouth in the semi-final on the Sunday, then we have got Arsenal on the Wednesday, then Chelsea on the Saturday. It is not ideal but they are good games."

Alnwick, Dervite, Gudjohnsen, Livermore, Palacios, Parret, Townsend. The Spurs bench at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday tells its own story about the injury crisis that is currently afflicting the club. That crisis was made worse when Pavlyuchenko came off towards the end of the first half. Happily, however, his injury presented an opportunity for Eidur Gudjohnsen, which the on-loan striker took with gusto, scoring the first goal and setting up the second for Kranjcar with a clever dummy.

Thanks to their 3-1 victory over Blackburn and one point only for Man. City, Spurs maintained their hold on the fourth Champions League spot. The win was achieved comfortably enough against a Blackburn side that has an appalling record away from Ewood Park, although in truth Spurs were not required to be at their best. Gareth Bale was undoubtedly the star man on the day, and arguably Dawson and Palacios were the only other Spurs players who performed at anything like their peak.

With only eight or nine weeks left to go until the end of the league season, Spurs sit at something of a crossroads. The run-in is beginning to look tricky, with Spurs in the main facing teams with plenty to fight for, either at the foot or at the head of the table.

April is particularly daunting, with successive games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Man. Utd. Once those are out of the way, Spurs then take on Bolton and Burnley, who both could still be trying to avoid the drop as the campaign draws to a close.