Spurs have to spend to survive, says Woodgate

Defender welcomes talk linking Tottenham to Defoe, Bellamy and Downing

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The Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate believes the club have to spend their way out of trouble in the January transfer window.

Sunday's 2-0 defeat at West Bromwich was Spurs' fourth league match without a win and only their goal difference is keeping them out of the bottom three.

The manager Harry Redknapp knows he still has plenty of work to do despite enjoying immediate success after taking over from Juande Ramos in late October. He has been linked with the likes of Jermain Defoe – the player he signed for Portsmouth from Spurs only 12 months ago – West Ham's Craig Bellamy and Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing.

Woodgate would welcome all three to White Hart Lane. "We are in a relegation battle and we have to keep improving. Every team has to buy players," the former Middlesbrough defender said. "If you look at this time last season, Spurs signed players [Woodgate and Alan Hutton at a cost of £17m] and we must keep on buying.

"We need as many top-quality players as we can get. Stewart Downing is a Middlesbrough player, so I can't say much about his future. But he is an England international and anyone who plays for England is a good player."

Redknapp is expected to escape a Football Association charge despite his scathing comments about the referee Steve Tanner after the Hawthorns defeat. The FA has studied Redknapp's remarks and although the case is viewed as being borderline, it is expected to decide against any charge unless further comments come to light. The FA is much stricter on managers who suggest there is any bias on the part of the referee, or who deliver insults such as calling officials "Mickey Mouse".

Redknapp said after the game: "I never complain about referees – I haven't done that for years but this guy was scary. He's a poor referee and I've seen him make a mess of so many games." Woodgate has also criticised Tanner, saying: "If we [players] make mistakes, we are punished but if the officials do, what happens to them? Nothing. Something has to be done. We are playing in the Premier League, which is the biggest league in the world. You expect it in a Sunday league but not in the Premier League."

West Bromwich's manager Tony Mowbray insists everyone at the club believes they can escape relegation – despite them ending the year bottom of the Premier League – after the victory over Spurs. The 2-0 win was their second successive at home and lifted them off the foot of the table for a couple of hours until Blackburn's draw with Manchester City dropped them back down.

Albion are only two points behind 17th-placed Middlesbrough but their inferior goal difference means they are effectively three from safety.

With only five victories from 20 matches, Mowbray knows they have to improve in the second half of the campaign, but he believes they can turn things around.

And he has identified home matches against Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Bolton, Stoke, Sunderland and Wigan as key. "I think it is a good run of games for us and there are games in there, particularly at home in the second half of the season, where we should be targeting a win," Mowbray said. "If we can get results like we have had the last two weekends at home, we should accumulate enough points, but when those days come along we have to make sure we can win those games.

"The games that are going to be crucial to us are the games at home against teams we feel we should be taking points off. But if you don't put the ball in the right areas and don't take your chances, you won't win games.

"The key is to get out of the bottom three and we are within touching distance of that. If you have no belief, you have no chance and I think the players have never stopped believing we have the qualities to stay in this league."

The striker Craig Beattie scored the second goal against Tottenham and is hopeful of making the most of a second chance at the Hawthorns. The Scotland international was recalled from a loan spell at Crystal Palace earlier this month. "I'm looking forward to getting more games at this level and hopefully scoring more goals," he said.