The Seasiders are currently in fourth place in the Championship table although just three points separates them from Brighton, who occupy tenth spot.

Blackpool, though, are only four points off an automatic promotion spot as the battle to reach the promised land continues for the likes of Southampton, West Ham and Cardiff City.

But Holloway’s men are in the thick of things too, and Phillips, who has scored nine goals in his last nine games, believes they are right in contention.

He told the Blackpool Gazette: “This team believes it can do really good things.

“We all believe we can get automatic promotion but we are just silently going about our business. We are creeping up the table nicely, so who knows what it is going to happen.”

Phillips and his team-mates will be interested observers on Tuesday night when Birmingham entertain Portsmouth in the Championship’s only midweek fixture (Birmingham 4/6, draw 13/5, Portsmouth 9/2 – Match Betting).

A win for Chris Hughton’s men would see them leap-frog both Blackpool and Cardiff into third place ahead of this weekend’s fixtures.

Wayne Rooney

The defending champions found themselves 3-0 down at Stamford Bridge, before two penalties from Rooney and a late header from Mexican striker Javier Hernandez secured an unlikely point for manager Sir Alex Ferguson and his men in the capital.

With Manchester City securing all three points against Fulham last weekend, the Red Devils now find themselves two points off the pace at the top of the Premier League table.

United have another massive fixture this weekend as they prepare to take on arch rivals Liverpool (5/2 Premier League Top Four Finish) at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Ferguson’s side will be looking for revenge following their 2-1 defeat to the Reds in the FA Cup last month and Rooney is adamant United will take plenty of confidence forward from their encounter with Chelsea.

The England striker said: “It’s two points lost.

“We understand that, but after being 3-0 down – the City players at home must have liked that – we enjoyed the way we fought back.

“A lot of teams might have put their heads down and accepted defeat, but we never put our heads down.”

Manchester City

The Three Lions are looking for a new skipper – apparently against coach Fabio Capello’s wishes – after the Football Association decided to axe John Terry because of his forthcoming racial abuse trial.

Italian Capello has risked the wrath of his employers by seemingly speaking out against their decision in an interview with an Italian broadcaster and now Hart has voiced his opinion over the issue of who should wear the armband next.

England’s options appear limited by fitness worries over senior players like Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand which has seen undisputed number one Hart‘s name mentioned in dispatches.

But for now the Manchester City star insists he “doesn’t care” about being skipper “as long as he is playing”.

“I am flattered to be linked with it but anyone who’s having a consistent run in the England side is being linked with it,” he said. “There are a lot stronger candidates than me.

Hart added: “I have got a really important season with games for Manchester City and hopefully a couple for England coming up.

“That is all I am concentrating on at the moment.”

England take on Holland in a friendly at Wembley on Wednesday 29 February but before that Hart faces Premier League games against Aston Villa and Blackburn (City 1/2f – Premier League Outright).

The Molineux outfit currently sit just outside the drop zone, with North West outfits Bolton (Evens), Blackburn (1/2) and Wigan (1/5) currently all occupying places in the bottom three of the top flight.

Wolves ended a nine-game run without a win by defeating ten-man QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday to move level on points with the big-spending west Londoners who strengthened their squad significantly in January.

Next up for Wanderers is a home derby clash with West Brom on Sunday before trips to Newcastle and Fulham and a six-pointer against Blackburn in the Midlands on March 10.

But for now McCarthy has taken the opportunity to express his thanks towards Morgan who made a rare appearance in the dressing room after the recent 3-0 home defeat by Liverpool.

McCarthy told the club’s website: “Can I just say something about my owner? We have won three games in 22 and I am still here as the manager of Wolves.

“Let me tell you that is some level of support so let’s not forget that. When everyone is writing negative stuff about me and Steve he has been as supportive as anyone else.

“I owe him a debt of gratitude for that.”

Liverpool

The Reds were on the wrong end of a 4-0 thrashing by Spurs when the two sides met at White Hart Lane earlier in the Premier League campaign.

Liverpool had not been beaten so heavily since the spring of 2003 and for Carragher the loss is still fresh in his mind ahead of the anticipated clash at Anfield.

The Reds (5/2 Premier League top four finish) have struggled against some of the so called ‘lesser’ teams in the league this term but have raised their game for matches such as the upcoming encounter against the Lilywhites.

Carragher is an admirer of the football Spurs have played but is determined for his side to get all three points on Monday night.

The 34-year-old said: “Spurs have probably been the most impressive team in the league for me this season.

“I know they aren’t top but they’re great to watch. They play great football, very fast paced and they certainly showed that against us at White Hart Lane.  That was our biggest defeat of the season and something we want to rectify.”

Liverpool have recorded recent cup successes over both Manchester United and Manchester City, and will be confident they can get a result against a Spurs side looking to secure their third spot in the Premier League table.

Barcelona

The Catalan side appear to have produced yet another star of the future after 20-year-old Cristian Tello scored one of the goals in their 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday.

The European champions currently sit seven points behind great rivals Real Madrid (5/2 Champions League outright) in the table but Valdes is undeterred and believes the youngsters coming  through the ranks prove that they’re strong enough to achieve success both at home and aboard.

Pep Guardiola named eight graduates of the club’s famous ‘La Masia’ academy in his starting line-up for the match against the Basque side.

Tello was joined in the team by youngsters Isaac Cuenca and Jonathan Dos Santos who have all played in the reserves this season and the goalkeeper believes it goes to prove that the club have the best youth development programme in the world.

“I want to congratulate him (Tello) for his first goal with the first team,” the Spain international told the club’s official website.  “We have the best youth system in the world.”

QPR

The Frenchman was dismissed after just 34 minutes of Rangers’ vital relegation clash against Mick McCarthy’s side for his reaction following a strong challenge from Roger Johnson.

Mark Hughes’ side were leading 1-0 at the time of the incident but were powerless to resist as their rivals came back to earn a crucial three points and leave them 16th, just a point clear of the relegation zone.

The former Liverpool man now acknowledges that his dismissal was the turning point in the game. However, he has vowed to fire the west London club to safety and believes that, after two broken legs, he was right to make a point about Johnson’s tackle (Wolves 4/5 to be relegated).

“I would like to apologise for my stupid reaction which cost us the game. I shouldn’t react like this,” Cisse posted on his Twitter account. “I have to say that the tackle was very dangerous and he could have broken my leg.

“After two leg breaks I felt scared and I reacted like this. But my reaction was stupid and I feel really bad because I let my team down andI promise to make it up to all the fans and my team.”

Tottenham Hotspur

Bale has been one of the Premier League’s form players over the last few seasons and has further improved this term, scoring 11 goals and having countless assists as well as being linked with a move to Barcelona.

The Welshman has scored three goals in his last two games and, after a superb January, picked up the Premier League’s player-of-the-month award. He has also proved his versatility in recent times by switching from his more familiar left-wing position over to the right and is now regarded as one of the world’s best wide men.

Bond has watched the 22-year-old mature after previously coaching him at Southampton and believes he will only continue to improve and help the Lilywhites with their title push (Spurs 14/1 Premier League outright).

“He’s on top of his form, you can see he is full of confidence at the moment,” Bond said. “He is improving, he has done terrific and I think there is still more to come from him and he wants to improve as well.

“He has added to his game. He has a bit of variation, he comes inside a bit. It helps him and makes it difficult for opponents to pin him down.”

West Ham

The highly-rated striker has been on the radar of a number of clubs over the last few seasons but finally ended speculation by moving to Sam Allardyce’s Championship leaders who currently sit four points clear of Southampton (Saints 4/1 – Championship Outright).

Maynard is seen by many as one of the best strikers outside of the Premier League and says it would have been a dream to take his former club to the top flight.

However, City have failed to make an impression on the league since reaching the play-off final in 2008 and 25-year-old Maynard says that with the team unlikely to get close to the Premier League in the near future it was impossible to turn a move to West Ham down.

“Every player wants to play at the highest level he can and I’m no different,” he said.

“Of course, I’d have loved to have done it with Bristol City,  but that did not work out.

“I enjoyed my time at City, but the chance to join a massive club like West Ham, who are destined for the Premier League, was just too good to turn down.”

Steven Gerrard

There were high expectations of a title tilt this season following the return of Kenny Dalglish as manager last January as well as the money spent on new arrivals, but that has failed to materialise with leaders Manchester City 19 points ahead of them in the table.

Five away defeats have not helped the cause but the fact they have been held seven times out of 11 games on home territory is the more worrying cause for concern for the Reds.

Gerrard is hopeful the players will be up for it and the minds will be focused on Monday night as they host title-chasing Tottenham (Liverpool 11/10, draw 12/5, Spurs 13/5 – Match Betting) with the Reds looking to keep in contention for Champions League places.

“We’ve had too many draws at home – and we won’t get involved or win the league until we manage to overcome dropping points against these sort of teams,” Gerrard said.
 
“We’re obviously not performing against those sides like we do in the big games.
 
“Maybe it’s a mental thing, where we just think we need to turn up. We’ve certainly got the players in the squad capable of getting involved in the title race.”

Spurs won the reverse fixture at White Hart Lane 4-0 earlier in the season and were also the last side to secure victory at Anfield in the Premier League, winning 2-0 last May.