Fatigue concern for Villas-Boas

9 November 2012 14:14

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is wary that his side have less rest than Manchester City ahead of their Premier League meeting.

Roberto Mancini's men fought out a 2-2 Champions League draw with Ajax on Tuesday while Spurs were forced to wait until Thursday to complete a 3-1 Europa League victory over Maribor.

And the Portuguese boss believes that could make all the difference when the sides do battle at the Etihad Stadium this weekend.

Speaking to reporters, Villas-Boas said: "We go four steps up in competition (on Sunday), it's a different scenario.

"It was a good performance, it was important for us to bounce back, to do it in such a good manner was fantastic.

"At the weekend we play the champions of England, a totally different proposition. They will want to bounce back after a run of bad results.

"City have two days extra than us, this is the main difference. The reality is they have that extra freshness.

"But there is enough time to recover. The body takes 48 hours to recover from physical effort and we'll be able to make that recovery."

The north London side enjoyed success in playing two strikers against Maribor, but the 35-year-old was coy when asked if he would repeat the tactic against the Premier League champions.

"It was good to see us in this system, with Adebayor coming short and linking play very, very well," he said.

"We have been playing with two strikers, but one off the other one, and we are still a team that creates lots of opportunities with one off or with two up front.

"It was good to see the link up of Adebayor and Defoe, but we ended with one striker coming short all the time so it was exactly the same.

"I base my decision making on the performance in the game and in training. I have not made a decision at the moment but in the short time of preparation I will decide."