It is hard to envisage how Tottenham might fare were they to find themselves in next season's Champions League and this is not merely because the experience would be wholly new to them; so different to the European Cup in which Spurs last competed nearly 50 years ago. Harry Redknapp's side might progress but equally they could go out at the qualifying stage, as Everton did after finishing fourth in the Premier League in 2005.
Such misgivings are born of the germ of uncertainty which is seldom absent from Tottenham's performances even when, by and large, they are playing well. Saturday's win over Blackburn, which will keep Spurs in fourth place for another week, should have been a straightforward affair against opponents whose away record suggests they get travel sick reading a road map. But even here Tottenham left the door ajar, conceding a goal at 2-0 and luckily seeing another from Blackburn disallowed at 3-1.
All of which would suggest that Spurs's followers are in for a nervous couple of months as Redknapp's team, consistently having to improvise in the face of a lengthening injury list, strive to fend off their rivals. Next month Tottenham are due to play Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in rapid succession, having already lost to all three. An FA Cup semi-final may get in the way but this will still be the ultimate test of Spurs' credentials as a top-four side, along with the possibility that they will find themselves visiting Manchester City in the last week of the season.
Even the plaudits for the hero of the moment, Roman Pavlyuchenko, are not without qualification. The striker's two goals here took his total to eight in six appearances and he was denied a hat-trick only by an acrobatic interception from Christopher Samba. Yet before the January transfer window opened Pavlyuchenko was reported to be pining for home and attracting the interest of Lokomotiv Moscow, a move scotched by Redknapp, who preferred to lend Robbie Keane to Celtic.
For the moment at least Pavlyuchenko appears to have settled for slumming it in London. "The transfer window came and went and he realised he wasn't going back to Russia," Redknapp explained. "Now he's knuckling down and is in top form. He's working hard and putting a shift in. That's all I've ever asked of him." Just so long as the Tottenham manager does not find Pavlyuchenko again weighed down by home thoughts from abroad.
Gareth Bale, at present the most profound influence in a Spurs performance, will surely be a bigger asset to the team in the long run. For all his experience with Real Madrid Blackburn's Míchel Salgado joined the growing list of right-backs who have been unable to cope with the 20-year-old Welshman's speed and close control. "He's learning the game and growing up," said Redknapp. "He came here with a lot of hype and he's still young. He has a fantastic future in front of him." On Saturday, in the case of Salgado, he regularly left the past behind him.
Bale had two penalty appeals rejected by Howard Webb, neither as clear-cut as the lunge by Vedran Corluka in the 19th minute which brought down the busy and perceptive David Dunn as the Blackburn midfielder entered the Spurs area but was also unpunished. Yet as their manager, Sam Allardyce, acknowledged, Blackburn were principally let down by inept defending rather than the referee, although they were not helped by the loss of Paul Robinson in goal after 25 minutes with a torn calf muscle.
Nobody picked up Corluka's late run to meet Niko Kranjcar's corner and nod the ball down for Jermain Defoe to toe-poke Tottenham ahead in first-half stoppage time, and Pascal Chimbonda was at fault with each of Pavlyuchenko's goals, standing off the Russian, whose shot went under the body of Jason Brown, Robinson's deputy, and going AWOL when the No9 tapped in his second from Bale's low cross.
Samba's imperious header gave Blackburn a smidgen of hope and while Nikola Kalinic appeared to handle as he turned to score spectacularly he only did so as the result of a shove from behind by Michael Dawson. Webb did not see it that way. Or perhaps he just didn't see it.
