Spurs sweat over Modric and King injuries

30 August 2009 02:30

Tottenham Hotspur´s midfielder Aaron Lennon celebrates scoring the late winner during their English Premier League football match against Birmingham City at White Hart Lane. Tottenham´s perfect start to the Premier League season continued on Saturday as Lennon´s stoppage time strike secured a 2-1 win over Birmingham at White Hart Lane.

LONDON (AFP) - Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp is sweating over injuries to key stars Luka Modric and Ledley King after his side extended their perfect start with a 2-1 win over Birmingham.

Redknapp is already without Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Dawson, Heurelho Gomes and Jermaine Jenas due to injuries, and now defender King and Croatian midfielder Modric could face time in the treatment room.

King suffered a groin strain, while Modric is complaining of a sore calf following a kick to the side of his leg.

That could rule Modric out of the World Cup qualifying encounter against England on September 9, and Redknapp is worried about the impact it may have on him for upcoming games against Manchester United and Chelsea.

"I could be looking to bring someone in before the window shuts because we are short," he said. "Now we don't see the players again for another two weeks because they are on international duty. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that nobody gets injured.

"It's ridiculous that we don't see about ten of them until they come back on the Friday morning before the Manchester United game."

Redknapp did take delight in seeing Peter Crouch score his second goal in a week though. The striker headed home from a Tom Huddlestone cross to put Spurs in the lead, and was impressive throughout after replacing Modric on 49 minutes.

"I thought Peter Crouch made a big difference when he came on," Redknapp added. "He was marvellous and was possibly our best player.

"We should have battered them out of sight, shouldn't we? We were all over them in the first half and should have got the early goal.

"Then we lost Ledley King at half-time with a groin injury and then Luka Modric with a calf problem and we were left short.

"We give away a really silly goal and by the end, after Birmingham got their equaliser, they looked as likely to score as we did."

Birmingham's equalising goal came through Lee Bowyer, following an error that had allowed Christian Benitez to pressurise Alan Hutton and Carlo Cudicini into a muddle.

Lennon's goal five minutes into injury time sealed a win that ensures Tottenham continue a best start to a league campaign for 49 years.

For Birmingham it means they have lost both their away matches so far, and McLeish is also concerned by the lack of squad depth he has at his disposal.

It means he will step up his pursuit of Sporting Gijon midfielder Michel, who had been a target for the majority of the close-season.

"We only named six substitutes and that says a lot about our injury troubles at the moment," McLeish said.

"Liam Ridgewell was supposed to be out for a year but he has made remarkable progress. David Murphy is a month away after a broken knee cap at the end of last season, Marcus Bent has a hamstrong injury and Damian Johnson has a knock.

"I'm now waiting on word from the Spanish side over Michel. We are working hard to get paper work in place. We could do with an extra body, without doubt."