Redknapp hopes to have his King for a day of destiny
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Bolton Wanderers
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Harry Redknapp says that Ledley King is a "certainty" to go to the World Cup. What Tottenham fans – and Redknapp – don't know, and won't know until tomorrow, is whether the centre-back will be fit for the club's biggest game in four years: the Champions League showdown with Manchester City.
Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, has been in regular contact with Fabio Capello about King's fitness this season. As everyone by now is well aware, the dodgiest knee in the Premier League blows up "like a balloon" after every game. The England manager has been assured that with six days between his side's first two group games and five between the second and third, King could be a useful member of the squad in South Africa. Redknapp, who is also waiting for a scan on Heurelho Gomes's groin, had three and a half days at best to get his captain ready to face Roberto Mancini's men.
The Spurs manager loves to praise the skills of Luka Modric, the potential of Gareth Bale and the athletic goalkeeping of Gomes, but the one player he wants in his team every game – but can't have – is King, thanks to that knee of his. And if he could have him for one particular game it would be for what is, effectively, a play-off to finish fourth and get into the final qualifying round of the Champions League.
Win it and thanks to the one-point advantage Spurs take into the game, they will be part of European club football's elite competition for the first time in 49 seasons. If they draw, then their fate is still in their hands for their last game of the season at Burnley. Lose, and they need West Ham to do them a favour against City on Sunday.
Redknapp was in an unenviable position at the weekend. He knew he wanted King for two of the last three games, but picking him against Bolton meant running the risk of losing him for the City game. If he had rested King but failed to beat Bolton, then having his man fit for Wednesday might be irrelevant. So he chose King on Saturday and because Spurs failed to build on Tom Huddlestone's piledriver of a goal from 25 yards, he had to let King play the whole game to ensure victory, all the while knowing his knee was suffering.
King actually faced Owen Coyle's stubborn side despite suffering from flu, but declared himself fit. Redknapp said: "He was really ill on the morning of the game and the doctor was around his house. He said he'd give it a go. That is how he is. He just plays through it. He's a fantastic player and a great guy. I think he will go to the World Cup. I spoke to him [Capello] about six weeks ago. He asked 'how's Ledley, how's Ledley, how's Ledley?'"
"Imagine what he would have been like if he didn't have those injuries. Imagine. It's frightening."
Whether they have King or not on Wednesday, Tottenham have been in this position before. On the last day of the season four years ago, a win against West Ham would have put them in the Champions League at the expense of Arsenal. What happened next became known as "lasagne-gate", as what was supposed at the time to be food poisoning deprived Spurs of several first-team players at Upton Park. They lost, Arsenal won, and Spurs missed out.
Huddlestone, who scored only his second league goal of the season against Bolton, was one of those struck down. Although he wasn't sure about preparations for their pre-match catering this time – Redknapp promised bagels and chicken soup – Huddlestone knows his team-mates want to banish the memory of that failure. "There's still quite a few players here now who were here in 2006 so we know the hurt. Even though that was four years ago there's still a nucleus, so we've got to hopefully put it right this time. It was devastating really, to be that close. We know what we've got to do and hopefully we can do it." Having a King for a day – or a night in this instance – will certainly help.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Gomes; Kaboul, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto; Bentley (Lennon, 74), Huddlestone, Modric, Bale; Defoe (Crouch, 72), Pavlyuchenko (Gudjohnsen, 87). Substitutes not used: Alnwick (gk), Jenas, Palacios, Bassong.
Bolton Wanderers (4-4-1-1): Jaaskelainen; Steinsson, Cahill, Knight, Robinson; Weiss (Chung, 61), Muamba (Gardner, 78), Wilshere, Taylor; Klasnic (Elmander, 61); K Davies. Substitutes not used Al Habsi (gk), Samuel, M Davies, Ricketts.
Referee C Foy (Merseyside)
Booked: Bolton Robinson, Taylor, Wilshere
Man of the match: Gomes
Attendance: 35,852
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments