A bout of the flu may mean that Luca Modric misses out in tonight’s UEFA Champions League Group A match between FC Twente and Tottenham.
Spurs, who are already certain of a place in the knock-out phase of the tournament, are looking for a win to secure the top spot in the group, ahead of Inter Milan, and, therefore, miss one of Europe’s big guns in the next round.
They are certain to be without this season’s in form pair Rafael van der Vaart and Younes Kaboul, who remain unavailable due to injury, though Jermain Jenas is expected to be fit again following the calf injury he picked up against Werder Bremen a fortnight ago.
Modric will be a big miss for Tottenham, as he has been putting in some stellar performances of late, though, providing Jenas is fit again, his bout of flu may not prove to cause as much harm as it might otherwise.
Spurs will also have Michael Dawson to call upon in the centre of defence as the 27 year old is fit again following the injury he sustained on his England debut in October, though Redknapp may want to stick with the Gallas, Bassong pairing that has seen them pick up points in recent weeks.
If Tottenham can secure a victory this evening, they will be all but certain to win their group, and thereby avoid other group winners, such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the first knock-out round.
Twente are already assured of the third place that puts them into the UEFA Europa League, so it will be interesting to see how they approach this match, which may be regarded, from their point of view, as something of a ‘dead rubber’.
FC Twente v Tottenham Hotspur kicks off at 19:45 GMT on the evening of Tuesday 7th December 2010.
