Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp has praised his team after they won the North London derby 2-1 on Saturday, and has stated the win was deserved, despite Arsenal having more possession.

Goals from Rafael van der Vaart and Kyle Walker gave Spurs the three points, with Aaron Ramsey scoring for the visitors.

Despite The Gunners' having the lion's share of the ball, especially in the first half, Redknapp feels the win was justified.

"They had a lot of possession in the first half. It was difficult. They played three in midfield," he told Sky Sports after the game.

"So they were always going to hold the sway in terms of possession. We had the two (players) in there. But we got the goal before half-time. To be honest, I nearly changed it (Spurs' formation) at half-time. I nearly made the change and thickened us up in there.

"But I thought, 'well, let's see how we go'. They (Arsenal) got off to a better start in the second half, got the goal, and watching the game you would have thought, 'they are in the ascendency. We could be in trouble'.

"But we upped it. We got better and stronger and we took over. We deserved the win in the second half, I thought we were excellent. We had all the good chances," he stated.

Walker's long distance strike proved to be the winner, and despite a mistake by Wojciech Szczesny, Redknapp was full of praise for the young defender.

"He is a great attacking full-back, he loves to get forward. It was a good strike from Kyle. He has done ever so well, he has had a good start to the season," he concluded.

Spurs have a week off now for international duty, and travel to take on Newcastle at St James' Park in their next game.

By Gareth McKnight

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