'Arry's strike force is a cut above; THE BIG GAME.

Byline: RAY STUBBS

ESPN presenter Ray Stubbs shares his thoughts... www.espn.co.uk

SUNDAY'S ESPN live game between West Ham and Tottenham should be a cracker.

Harry Redknapp hasn't been at White Hart Lane a year yet but Spurs have made great progress and confidence must be sky-high there.

What looks good for Spurs fans is the mix and match element that Harry's established up front.

A strike force of Defoe, Keane, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko is really exciting and gives him so many options.

Even the stats are in Harry's favour this weekend: he's been unbeaten at Upton Park since he left West Ham in 2001.

As for the Hammers, I would imagine Gianfranco Zola can't wait for the transfer window to close. There's been lots of speculation concerning his players and he will just want to get to September 1 without losing anyone.

There's an equally fascinating clash live on Monday night, when Liverpool host Aston Villa.

Villa have won just twice in their last 18 fixtures and Martin O'Neill will have been so frustrated that his team fell away at the end of last season.

But this game is a great opportunity for the Villans to rise to the challenge.

If they can sneak a 1-0 win at Anfield it would cancel out the effect of the defeat to Wigan on the opening day and give them a massive psychological boost. As for Liverpool, the disappointment of that defeat at Tottenham last weekend will have been diluted by the four goals they rattled in against Stoke.

A lot has been made of Xabi Alonso moving to Real Madrid. There's no doubt he's a loss but it would be a mistake to dwell on that and Liverpool won't do that - every club loses players.

Even without Alonso, this is a game Rafa Benitez's side will expect to win.

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