Harry Redknapp: There's no better finisher than Jermain Defoe

After watching Jermain Defoe demolish Wigan Athletic with five goals in a 9-1 victory on Sunday, Harry Redknapp described the Tottenham striker as the best finisher in England.

GettyImages

Jermain Defoe holds match ball after five-goal haul against Wigan

• Harris: Spurs return to the glory game
• Biggest Premier League wins
• Saturday's round-up

Defoe joined an elite trio of players to have scored five goals in one Premier League game when emulating Andy Cole and Alan Shearer in a scintillating second-half performance at White Hart Lane.

The clinical way in which he greedily accumulated his goals in a 36-minute period will clearly have impressed England manager Fabio Capello who has often used Defoe as a substitute, with Emile Heskey the preferred partner for Wayne Rooney.

But Redknapp believes no other Englishman can match Defoe for poise and calm in front of goal.

"He's an amazing finisher,'' Redknapp said. "When you look at England strikers, Wayne Rooney's fantastic - a complete all-round player - but as a finisher, Defoe is the best out there.

"I'm sure he'll go to the World Cup. Fabio Capello will see the goals he's scored, the way he's got stronger this season and is using his upper body strength a bit more and holding people off, and he will be impressed. This could be a great season for him."

Defoe is now leading the goalscoring charts in the Premier League with 11, one ahead of Fernando Torres, but the striker has explained that he only pulled on the boots with which he achieved his feat after a last minute change of heart.

"I had a funny feeling before the game," Defoe said. "Adidas gave me a pair of green boots and I tried them on before the game, but Clive Allen said I couldn't wear them, so I changed them. They were pinkish silver ones in the end, and I go and score five."