Davids: Spurs will fail to finish top four

Harry Redknapp's side sit top of the table having won their opening three encounters - 2-1 against Liverpool and West Ham and 5-1 at Hull City, as well as another 5-1 away win at Doncaster Rovers in the Carling Cup.

And as well as possessing a strong starting XI, the White Hart Lane outfit can also afford to leave established strikers Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko on the substitutes' bench, along with midfielder David Bentley.

Having endured their worst ever start to a league season under Juande Ramos last term, Redknapp has guided the club to their best opening sequence in more than 40 years just 12 months on, with fans and pundits alike now tipping the North Londoners to gatecrash the 'Big Four'.

However, ex-Ajax and Juventus enforcer Davids - who made 40 league appearances for Spurs from 2005-07 and was part of the side that came 90-minutes away from pipping Arsenal to fourth spot in 2006 - believes the experience of the Gunners, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will prove decisive over the course of the campaign.

"In the beginning a lot of teams are top of the table but you have established teams, like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and so on," the Dutchman told Sky Sports News.

"They always manage to come out on top because that is what they do.

"It's very very hard for other teams to establish themselves among those teams."