Redknapp keen on keeping Pav

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp insists he wants to keep Roman Pavlyuchenko after the striker scored in their 1-0 victory over Sunderland.

The Russian came off the bench and netted a well-placed winner on 61 minutes in Tottenham’s win in the English Premier League clash at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

Considered to be behind several others for a starting berth up front, Pavlyuchenko has said he wants to leave the club during the January transfer window.

But Redknapp said he wanted to keep the 30-year-old, and admitted it was tough to juggle his array of attacking talent.

“I’d like to keep him here. He’s a fantastic player, he’s a great striker of the ball and when he’s on his game he’s top drawer,” Redknapp said.

“It’s just difficult, you’ve got Rafa (Rafael van der Vaart), you’ve got (Jermain) Defoe, you’ve got Pav and you’ve got (Emmanuel) Adebayor and you can’t play them all.”

“But you need them as was shown today. We lose a couple of strikers and he comes off the bench and wins the game for us.”

Pavlyuchenko replaced winger Aaron Lennon, who was taken off in the 27th minute after tearing his hamstring, ruling him out of Thursday’s London derby clash against Chelsea.

The loss was Sunderland’s first under manager Martin O’Neill, who was pleased with his side despite the defeat.

“We put a big, big effort into the game, I thought, before they scored and certainly in the last 25 minutes of the match,” O’Neill said.

“Tottenham are a very fine side. Overall I’m disappointed that we didn’t get something from the game, particularly as it looked as though the storm had been calmed.”

“I thought the way we played was very encouraging. I said that to the players in the dressing room. I cannot fault them in terms of effort.”