Forward Rafael van der Vaart could feature against Aston Villa on Monday as Tottenham continue to monitor his hamstring injury.
Jordan has fingers crossed regarding influential Dutchman
Forward Rafael van der Vaart could feature against Aston Villa on Monday as Tottenham continue to monitor his hamstring injury.
The Holland international sustained the problem while representing his country against Switzerland last Friday and is rated as '75 per cent' by Spurs' medical team.
And Tottenham first-team coach Joe Jordan, who has revealed manager Harry Redknapp hopes to return from heart surgery to the dugout against Villa, is optimistic.
But the White Hart Lane club will not rush Van der Vaart, despite the injury absences of the likes of Niko Kranjcar, Danny Rose and Tom Huddlestone.
"Rafa trained on Wednesday and, from what the medical team are saying, he's at 75 per cent," Jordan is quoted as saying by Spurs'
official website at his pre-match press conference on Thursday.
Monitor
"That's good, but we have to get him from 75 per cent to 100 per cent, we'll have to take it day-to-day and we do have a few days with the game on Monday.
"He's got a chance, but it is important that there is no recurrence of the injury.
"This morning is important as we'll get the players back out there again and we'll have players with varying degrees of fitness.
"Luka (Modric), for example, played two games for Croatia, other players played once. We'll get them out there again and monitor them.
"The other lads are progressing nicely. Vedran Corluka is okay, he played in the first game for Croatia and was suspended for the second game.
"We have no major doubts."
