Basement battlers Blackpool travel to UEFA Champions League chasing Tottenham in a crucial match.
Corluka and Huddlestone doubtful; Beattie back for Blackpool
Basement battlers Blackpool travel to UEFA Champions League chasing Tottenham in a crucial match as the end of the season approaches.
Spurs face an uphill struggle to sneak into fourth place, having dropped to sixth in the table behind Liverpool following their 2-1 defeat at Chelsea.
They trail Manchester City by seven points with four games remaining, including a trip to Eastlands on Tuesday that they will have to win to be in with a shout of usurping Roberto Mancini's team.
All this is likely to be in vain, however, if they fail to beat the Tangerines on Saturday at White Hart Lane, but their poor form going into the run-in may not make this game the home banker it would appear.
Harry Redknapp's team have won just one league game in eight, a run that started with a 3-1 defeat in the reverse fixture against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road in February.
Everything went against Spurs that night, with them somehow wasting a host of chances and being put to the sword by Ian Holloway's men who finished them off in clinical fashion.
Redknapp will be hoping there will be no repeats in this encounter, but he got no favours against Chelsea, with Frank Lampard's effort deemed to have crossed the line despite firm evidence to the contrary and Salomon Kalou's late goal looking suspiciously offside.
Since that victory in February, Holloway has seen his side pick up just three points, and it is their only win since the start of January.
Strain
The Seasiders appear to be showing signs of the mental strain as D-day looms, but they are unbeaten in their last two having drawn at home to Newcastle and Stoke.
Holloway clarified this week that he wants to stay at the club even if they are relegated, but after such a stunning start to life in the Premier League, he will be desperate to finish the job and keep his team up.
It looked a certainty that they would spend a second season in the top flight, but with the goals drying up and the defence leaking goals, they need a victory to keep their heads above water.
Team news
Spurs could be without Tom Huddlestone and Benoit Assou-Ekotto again after they sat out the match at Stamford Bridge, but Redknapp has no fresh injury concerns.
Midfielder Huddlestone is struggling with bruising on the ankle which went under the knife earlier this season, an operation which ruled him out for six months.
Left-back Assou-Ekotto was forced from the field in the early stages against West Brom the previous with a hamstring injury, so Vedran Corluka is likely to stay in his position.
Niko Kranjcar, Alan Hutton, Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate and Wilson Palacios all remain out.
Holloway has no new concerns for the match, with James Beattie now recovered from the illness that kept him out of the goalless draw with Stoke last weekend.
Holloway should be virtually full strength, with the only certain absentee being David Carney, whose season has been ended by a shoulder problem.
Possible starting XIs:
Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Kaboul, Bale, Sandro, Modric, Lennon, Van der Vaart, Defoe.
Blackpool: Gilks, Crainey, Evatt, Cathcart, Eardley, Southern, Vaughan, Adam, Phillips, Taylor-Fletcher, Campbell.
