Redknapp: Tottenham deserved derby win over Arsenal

Spurs boss feels his side were worthy winners of the thrilling encounter against their local rivals, praising his team's continued improvement as the game progressed. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has hailed his side’s second half performance in the north London derby victory over Arsenal, stating Spurs thoroughly deserved to pick up the three points.In an entertaining clash at White Hart Lane, the hosts picked up a 2-1 win with Kyle Walker netting the winner after Aaron Ramsey had cancelled out Rafael van der Vaart’s opener.The victory was Tottenham’s fourth successive Premier League triumph and, speaking after the match, Redknapp felt his side had been worthy winners.He said: “We deserved the win; we were excellent after the break and had all the good chances throughout the half.“We had got the goal before half-time and to be honest I nearly made the change at half-time to thicken us up in midfield by bringing an extra one on, but I thought I would continue and see how things went.“Then, unfortunately they got off to a better start in the second half and got the goal. “They were in the ascendancy at that point and watching the game you may have thought we were in trouble, but then we really upped it; we got better and stronger and really took over things in the second half.”The experienced boss did concede the Gunners enjoyed more of the ball for long spells of the match, although said that was a risk he was prepared to take after selecting a very attacking line-up.“I thought Arsenal had a lot of possession early on – it was difficult,” said Redknapp.“They played with three in midfield and just the one striker, which meant they had the extra man in midfield so they were always going to get the main sway of possession as we only had two in there.  “We also had Gareth Bale and Van der Vaart playing wide with two central strikers – I went for a very attacking team.”Redknapp had kind words for right-back Walker, who saw his long-range strike take Gunners goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny by surprise to hand his side a priceless derby victory.“Kyle Walker is a great attacking full-back, he just loves to get forward,” his manager added.“It was a great strike from Kyle. He has done ever so well and had a good to start to the new season.”