King seeks cure for Euro hangover

Ledley King has warned his Spurs team-mates to forget Inter Milan and ensure they don't suffer another Champions League hangover.

Three days after beating Young Boys to reach the Group stages earlier this month, Tottenham were stunned 1-0 at home by struggling Wigan.

Following the north Londoners' 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen on Matchday One of the group stages, Spurs were forced to stage a stirring fightback from a goal behind to stage a last-gasp win over Wolves.

Aston Villa are the visitors this weekend in the wake of Tottenham's stunning 4-1 win over FC Twente on Wednesday night.

A win is all the more important given defeat for Harry Redknapp's men at West Ham last weekend.

Victory over the Dutch champions has set Spurs up nicely for home and away clashes against Champions League holders Inter Milan.

But King believes his side will have to forget fourth place - and a return to the top table of club football - if they cannot transfer their European form to the League.

He said: "We slipped up against Wigan. Losing that game gives us an incentive not to let that happen again.

"People are looking at us after our European games, the spotlight is on us. Teams are waiting for us to slip up and are saying 'it's the same old Tottenham'.

"We don't want to be like that. We got a good result in the end against Wolves, we were disappointed against West Ham, now we're at home again, to Villa and we want three points from our home games.

"That's what we've struggled to do in recent years, when we've been in Europe our League form has suffered. So that's what we want to put right this season.

"We had a disappointing result at the weekend. So it was important that we bounced back against [FC Twente], that we didn't dwell on it and that we got the result we wanted.

"Now we will think about Saturday."

King, whose troublesome knee continues to restrict his appearances, could even feature against Gerard Houllier's new charges.

He added: "My knee's been good, I'm a little bit tight in the groin area, otherwise I would have played (last) Saturday.

"It's been good this season. We just took the sensible approach and missed Saturday's game. I felt a little bit towards the end but hopefully I should be alright for Saturday."

The England centre-back put Wednesday's red card for new signing Rafael van der Vaart down to over-exuberance and insisted the Spurs squad are motivated to pull off a shock win for the Dutchman.

King went on: "We'll try and do that. What a game to do that in. I thought he was brilliant in the first half.

"He kind of took the team by the scruff of the neck at times when things weren't always working for us.

"You could see he wanted the ball and he wanted to make things happen and that rubbed off on us in the end.

"He's a top player, you can see he's played at the highest level. Firstly, he's a good lad and he's settled right in.

"Secondly, we've got a good bunch of lads who make it easy for players to come in and enjoy themselves. And I thought he was brilliant."