Jan Vertonghen concerned about Tottenham injury list ahead of Southampton clash

Spurs: Jan Vertonghen, £10m from Ajax (Getty Images)

Jan Vertonghen hopes injuries do not prevent Tottenham getting back to winning ways at Southampton this weekend.

Spurs have suffered an unfortunate number of blows already this season as they juggle domestic and European commitments.

Scott Parker has yet to feature this term due to an Achilles injury, while Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto have been out since sustaining injuries early in the campaign.

That trio are still a way off returning, although manager Andre Villas-Boas is likely to be able to welcome back Mousa Dembele and Emmanuel Adebayor for Sunday's trip to the south coast.

Gareth Bale is also in line to feature against his former club after the birth of his first child - a welcome boost for a Spurs side that suffered a disappointing 4-2 home defeat to Chelsea in their last Premier League outing.

"I think the Chelsea game was just one incident," Vertonghen said.

"We missed so many players and I hope a few can come back against Southampton.

"It has been an unlucky season for us with all those injuries and I am looking forward to playing with our best team very soon because we can be so strong.

"The Chelsea game was just unlucky. We made a couple of wrong choices.

"We're very confident for the rest of the Premier League. Southampton are next and they really want to play good football.

"They believe in their own philosophy and I think we have done better in the away games until now so hopefully we can carry that on Sunday."

If Tottenham are to get a result at St Mary's, there will need to be a vast improvement from their Europa League display in Slovenia last night.

Gylfi Sigurdsson's second-half goal earned the north Londoners a 1-1 draw at NK Maribor, who took the lead late in the first half through Robert Beric.

Tottenham have drawn all three of their Group J fixtures so far and sit just two points shy of leaders Lazio and one point off Maribor.

"We came here for a win so it is frustrating," Vertonghen said. "We hoped to play better but the group is still open so we have hope.

"We have two good home games to come so we're still very confident of making the next round.

"I think if we win these next home games we're in pole position to make it to the next round.

"We have played Lazio at home and the best two home games are to come so the group is very confident."

Tottenham's draw in Slovenia was one of a number of shock results for English sides in Europe this week.

Manchester United had to turn around a two-goal deficit to overcome Braga on the same night that Chelsea lost 2-1 at Shakhtar Donetsk.

The following day Schalke condemned Arsenal to their first their first home Champions League defeat since 2009, but the biggest shock came in Amsterdam as Ajax beat Manchester City 3-1.

The result was a crushing blow to City's hopes of making the knockout stages but did not surprise Vertonghen, who made more than 200 appearances for the Dutch club before his summer move to White Hart Lane.

"I could not watch as I had no internet in my room so had to watch the highlights," the defender said.

"It was not really a surprise for me because they always do well against English teams.

"I am really not surprised about the result. I told the guys not to bet on City.

"I'm joking but they are just a very good team and can play very good football. I was happy with the result."

PA