Harry Redknapp admitted he would love to sign Emmanuel Adebayor on a permanent basis after the on-loan striker inspired Tottenham Hotspur to a third straight win.
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Adebayor was instrumental in his side's blistering start to the game against Wigan Athletic, setting up Rafael van der Vaart's third-minute opener before Gareth Bale headed the second after 23 minutes.
Adebayor continued hunting for a goal of his own until the final whistle, despite Mohamed Diame reducing the deficit for Wigan Athletic, who had Steve Gohouri sent off.
Redknapp said of the player he borrowed from Manchester City: "If he keeps going like he's going I'd love to keep him around. He's been excellent so far. But the wages will be the problem because he's not cheap."
The performance of Adebayor offset the absence of Jermain Defoe. Redknapp said that the England striker had been ruled out in the morning after falling ill at the team hotel. Benoit Assou-Ekotto was a late selection after recovering from a virus.
Redknapp said: "Jermain was ill overnight so we sent him home. He had a temperature and was really ill. Benoit felt better this morning and he came up today by car to meet us."
Roberto Martinez, the Wigan coach, said that "soft goals" had cost his side, but hailed the spirit shown by his side in the second half.
Martinez said: "It doesn't matter how well Spurs played in the first half, the frustration was that the two goals were soft -but I couldn't be prouder of the second-half performance with 10 men."
He said his team played "like a team that could get something" out of the match, and he was disappointed they did not.
"But it was a fantastic reaction and the players deserve credit," he said. "It's important that you regroup and have a real reaction. If you've got real character you do that, if not you fold and you concede four or five and allow the opposition to have an easy afternoon.
"I didn't think that was the case in the second half, we were really bright and stopped Spurs having the momentum."
* Press Association