Tottenham Hotspur vs West Ham United preview - AVB confident of Spurs recovery

Posted Saturday, October 05, 2013 by PA

Andre Villas-Boas is confident there will be no European hangover when Tottenham return to domestic action against West Ham this weekend.

Spurs arrived home in the early hours of Friday morning after winning their Europa League clash with Anzhi Makhachkala 2-0 on the outskirts of Moscow.

First-half efforts from Jermain Defoe and Nacer Chadli proved the difference in what was likely to be Spurs' toughest test of Group K, although attention now is on the return to Premier League action against the Hammers on Sunday.

"Now it is just about recovery," manager Villas-Boas said. "Obviously the win helps us recover mentally, which helps us recover physically quicker.

"It is nothing different from what we've done in the past.

"We will try to get at least the minimum sleep, but from Friday to Saturday we will sleep well and recover the players for West Ham.

"We will just prepare for that game on the day of the game, give the players information on the day of the game."

Villas-Boas will be unable to call on Younes Kaboul after the injury-plagued defender took a knock on Thursday night.

Etienne Capoue is also out, although Villas-Boas hopes he will return in 10 days.

The Portuguese is more hopeful on injured trio Danny Rose, Aaron Lennon and Emmanuel Adebayor.

"Danny Rose is a 50-50 chance for West Ham," Villas-Boas said.

"Definitely yes after the international break, but probably not ready for West Ham.

"Aaron was back training with the team on Monday. He will be regaining his fitness with the team and we look to have him back in contention for a first-team place after the international break.

"Ade has just come back to training with the first-team. We travelled on Tuesday so we haven't trained with him.

"He definitely won't be involved against West Ham, so hopefully within this next international break we can build him up to start competing again for his place in the team."

West Ham will have to be at their best to unlock a Tottenham defence that has conceded just two goals so far this term.

One crumb of comfort for manager Sam Allardyce is that he is likely to have Joe Cole, who scored against Spurs last term, available following a five-week hamstring injury lay-off.

Allardyce said: "Joe is not ready to start, but we hope he will be involved in the squad depending how the next two days of training go.

"If I can get him on the bench that would be very good from our point of view because you want all your players fit and available for selection."