PORSTMOUTH may be the pace-setters in the first division but manager Harry Redknapp insisted the race for the Premiership is wide open - with the Clarets in the thick of it.

"There are seven or eight sides that have a realistic chance of a top two spot and Burnley is one of them," he said.

"I think it is going to be very tight this season and we are no Man City, we are nowhere near.

"I don't think we are different class and I don't see any side running away with it. There is not much between the seven or eight I fancied at the start of the season."

Redknapp brings his table-toppers to Turf Moor on Saturday. The former West Ham boss confessed that while he was surprised by the Clarets bad start to the season he is not surprised by their dramatic recovery and the current 12-game unbeaten run.

"Before the start of the season I thought they would be strong again and it was surprising when they made a terrible start," he said.

"There was even talk of Stan going but I knew him and Sam would sort it out. They have got so much experience and are a couple of old style football guys like me and Jim Smith down here.

"I know them both very well, as well as Mick Docherty, and I know how tough it will be at Turf. I would expect nothing different.

"But I am sure that we will all get together for a glass of wine after the game."

Redknapp was made aware of the tough test facing his side as he sat in the stands at Ipswich on Tuesday night and he was impressed by Burnley's display against Ipswich.

"You have got to remember that only 18 months ago most of that Ipswich side was finishing fifth in the Premier League," he said.

"They are a strong side with a lot of good players but Burnley played well."

That point took Burnley to within ten points of Pompey who started with ten wins and just one defeat in the first 13 games.

"It has been unbelievable because I thought it would take a bit of time to bed all the players in that I had signed," he said.

"I have brought a lot of new faces in, the latest Steve Stone on loan from Villa for a month, but I have not been spending money.

"To be fair I have done deals, everyone has been a free and I have sorted out wage packages with other clubs."

It is Redknapp's first full season in charge having replaced the sacked Graham Rix in March of this year and he admitted: "I did have doubts about becoming a manager again, especially at Pompey.

"If you look at their record they have had a few decent managers in recent years but always been in the bottom six or seven in the league.

"The chairman had a chat with me and I thought he was half thinking of turning it in