Team news

Birmingham preview
Birmingham have new £3million midfielder Craig Gardner available for the first-time against Tottenham at St Andrew's.

Gardner, who joined Birmingham on a four-and-a-half year deal from Aston Villa earlier this week, will be the only addition to the squad from Wednesday's 3-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Kevin Phillips is still missing with a groin problem but fellow forward Cameron Jerome is fit having suffered no reaction to his ankle injury after making his comeback against Chelsea.

Despite the defeat at Stamford Bridge, manager Alex McLeish is set to name an unchanged starting line-up.

McLeish is confident his side can brush off their defeat at Chelsea in midweek like "a bit of dandruff".

The Blues' impressive 15-match unbeaten run was halted by Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea, but McLeish expects to see a positive response against Spurs at St Andrew's.

He said: "It has been a magnificent journey up to now. The long unbeaten run was fantastic and it was great for the players to go so long without a defeat.

"To go 15 games unbeaten is an amazing feat by the players and now we have to start again.

"They certainly have the character in the side to bounce back.

"Any side can come unstuck against Chelsea to be honest, especially when they are in that kind of form.

"When you go to Chelsea you need everyone to be in top form and Chelsea to be off form.

"But they are buzzing and we were outclassed and I don't think we have been the only team to be outclassed at Stamford Bridge this season.

"Psychologically, it should be a bit of dandruff to be brushed off by the players."

Spurs preview
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp will give loan signing Eidur Gudjohnsen a "week or so" to settle in at White Hart Lane so he will not feature.

Aaron Lennon is still out with a hernia problem which the club hope to cure with physio treatment while Roman Pavlyuchenko will be out for at least a week with a groin strain.

Full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto, meanwhile, has been cleared by a specialist to start rehabilitation on the hip problem which has kept him out since early January. With five matches in a fortnight Redknapp will decide tomorrow whether to risk Ledley King, who played against Fulham on Tuesday.

Redknapp insists he did not steal Gudjohnsen from under the noses of West Ham.

The Tottenham manager claims he was prepared to let a deal fall through rather than let 31-year-old Gudjohnsen fall out with Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola.

Gudjohnsen had got as far as a medical at Upton Park when Redknapp rang him, but the Tottenham boss maintains Spurs had been chasing the Monaco star before co-chairmen David Sullivan and David Gold completed their takeover at West Ham.

Redknapp said: "He's joined us and he's a player we've always admired. He's a player we have been chasing for a couple of weeks.

"West Ham came in but before the takeover we were hot on the trail of Eidur and had contact with his people.

"He can play several positions. He's a fantastic footballer, a clever footballer.

"It was his decision. I rang him. I left a message saying `Eidur, if you are down the road with West Ham, Zola and Steve Clarke are friends of yours. Don't fall out with them.'I get on great with David Sullivan and I don't want any hassle with him either.

"But he (Eidur) came back and said `It's my choice. I want to come to Tottenham.' "He can play several positions. He had a great spell in midfield with Chelsea. He gives you options with your system. You don't play at Barcelona and in the Champions League unless you are a top player." The Gudjohnsen deal could be the first in a flurry of late transfer window activity at White Hart Lane.

Birmingham vs Tottenham

Last modified 20:08 30/01/10

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If Wayne Rooney burns himself out or gets injured – God help us – Fabio Capello could do better than look at the top flight’s most potent strike partnership for the coming World Cup campaign.

Tottenham’s little-and-large are proving to be a real handful for defenders this season.

Yesterday, they combined yet again to give the England boss food for thought – and leave Spurs a point ahead of Liverpool in the race for fourth place.

Defoe’s strike at St Andrews should have sealed a win for the visitors and given their Champions League push a big boost.

But appalling defending allowed Blues back into the game and, for the second time in a week, their opponents managed to grab an undeserved draw.

“It was horrendous,” moaned Harry Redknapp. “We defended poorly. How Ridgewell had that space, I don’t know.

“We deserved to win. Until we scored they were never in the game. After we scored we invited them on to us.

“But that’s another late goal we have conceded after the one at home to Leeds in the FA Cup last week.”

The Tottenham boss was not only perplexed about his defence’s costly lapse – he was disorientated to hear that his chairman Daniel Levy had signed Portsmouth’s Younes Kaboul for £5m.

“I thought we hadn’t signed him,” said Harry. When his club’s press officer revealed that the deal had gone through he added. “Well, I haven’t spoken to Daniel since eight this morning.”

Up until Liam Ridgewell’s last-gasp equaliser, Birmingham had hardly threatened Redknapp’s stopper Heurelho Gomes.

James McFadden set Lee Bowyer up for a chance in the first minute, the midfielder shooting straight at Gomes. Then Christian Benitez missed a sitter, swivelling past Michael Dawson – but scuffing his shot.

After that it had been all Spurs.

Luka Modric missed a great chance. David Bentley glided past Ridgewell and rifled a shot which Joe Hart did well to turn around the post. Then Modric greedily chose to shoot rather than play in the better-placed Bentley.

Just after the restart, the ex- Blackburn midfielder’s shot was spilled by Hart – but Defoe wasn’t quick enough to take advantage.

Then Modric put Defoe through with a precision pass, but the England striker’s first touch was poor. The ball fell nicely for Crouch – who somehow managed to contrive to miss from eight yards out.

The pair redeemed themselves in the 69th minute. Gareth Bale surged down the left flank and sent in a low cross which Crouch headed on to his partner.

Defoe hit the ball into the bottom left corner for his 17th strike of the season – only the seventh goal Birmingham have conceded on home soil this campaign.

Defoe and Crouch have now started 28 league matches together – and netted 28 goals in those games between them.

Are you watching Fabio?

But Birmingham’s never-say-die attitude then came to the fore. McFadden curled the ball in, Cameron Jerome headed it across the box and Ridgewell stroked it into the net.

Blues’ boss Alex McLeish said: “I’m delighted with the way it’s turned out. We lost to a last-minute goal at their place so Harry will know how I was feeling after that match.

“Over the two games against Spurs I strongly feel that we deserved to get something. So the draw, I believe, was deserved.

“Our will to win – to persevere until the last minute – was evident again, even though our quality was not as high as I wanted.”