Form and statistics may suggest otherwise, but Andre Villas-Boas insists his Tottenham side are not running out of steam and has challenged his squad to disprove the sceptics who claim they are a one-man team that cannot win without Gareth Bale.
As the business end of the season kicks into gear, Villas-Boas has a mounting injury crisis, with Bale — carried off in the final moments of Thursday’s Europa League quarter-final draw with Basle — Jermain Defoe and, possibly, Aaron Lennon joining long-term absentees Sandro and Younes Kaboul for today’s six-pointer against Everton.
Spurs ended a three-match losing streak by winning at Swansea last weekend but looked distinctly leg-weary when they were fortunate to come away with a 2-2 draw against the slick Swiss side.
Already paying for a lack of strikers, Spurs have not won a game, when Gareth Bale has failed to score, since New Year’s Day and need the mercurial Welshman, who has found the net 17 times in the Premier League, back as soon as possible for a fiercely tough run-in as they chase a Champions League spot.
But Villas-Boas believes that the club have the depth to keep pushing for a top-four finish. ‘Injuries come at bad times, but most of the players who are out should only miss a couple more games,’ he said. ‘Gareth has been absent before at different times of the season and we have managed to cope with people stepping in and now they have another chance.’
Villas-Boas admits that the postponement of next weekend’s crunch fixture against Chelsea due to the FA cup semi-finals could end up being a blessing in disguise for two reasons: allowing key injured players more time to recover and seeing Chelsea’s fixtures pile up.
‘Due to that postponement, most of the players should be back soon enough to play the remaining six games,’ he said.
‘Chelsea seem to be attacking all competitions with ambition so they will probably continue to play lots of games. But their squad is full of amazing players.’
One player who will be especially keen to make an impression today is Lewis Holtby, who grew up watching Everton.
‘It’s going to be emotional to play against them,’ said the Germany Under-21 midfielder. ‘My dad will be here but I don’t know which end he will be in. He said he is going to wear his Holtby shirt with an Everton badge, so I hope we can win and show him up!’ – Mail On Sunday