Andre Villas-Boas believes his Spurs squad has enough quality to reach the Europa League knockout stages - despite injuries to key players.
But Portuguese boss cautious over injuries ahead of European tie
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas believes his squad has enough quality to reach the Europa League knockout stages - despite injuries to key players.
Spurs begin their continental campaign against Italian side Lazio at White Hart Lane on Thursday without a host of stars.
Striker Emmanuel Adebayor is the latest casualty after being ruled out of the tie with a hamstring injury.
Villas-Boas is already without the services of Scott Parker, Jake Livermore, Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto.
England midfielder Parker is still battling back to fitness from an Achilles problem, while defenders Kaboul and Assou-Ekotto have recently been ruled out for longer spells.
The Portuguese boss is cautious over the health of his other players but remains confident Spurs can still progress from Group J, where they also face Panathinaikos and Maribor, without a full-strength squad at his disposal.
Quality
"We're struggling with recent injuries and with two more important players out we have been limited in terms of what we can do," he said.
"Luckily, in terms of midweek games, we are starting from now.
"The squad has a lot of players we cannot count on. But we have 18 available and between them we have enough quality to take us through the initial stages of the competition.
"But we understand it's important to realise the relationship between rest and playing time.
"We have to be very careful from now on."
