Jermain Defoe has admitted that he feels more pressure to perform due to Tottenham's excellent 2011-12 campaign, and competing for the Premier League title is similar to representing England.

The diminutive marksman scored the only goal of the game on Tuesday night to give Spurs a hard fought 1-0 win over West Brom, and keep their ambitions of challenging the Manchester clubs for top spot alive.

Defoe is enjoying the added expectancy of the Tottenham fans, and wants to keep the good run of form going.

"I’m loving the pressure,” he admitted to Mirror Football.

“It's like playing tournament football for England, when everyone is pinning their hopes on you to make the breakthrough.

“It means I have to make sure my preparation is right, that my attitude is right. Because I know how much it means to so many people.

“Everyone saw the tension at our place on Tuesday. The way that the fans, my team-mates and the manager and his staff celebrated when I got that goal and I enjoy being able to make that happen.

“That result on Tuesday shows that we are well and truly in the title race. The lads showed so much character to keep going when West Brom made it so hard for us.

“City and United know we are a threat, and with every game that we keep on winning we can put pressure on them to keep winning," he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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