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Clint Dempsey can take over starring role
NO pressure then. Mousa Dembele is tipping Clint Dempsey to step up and fill some enormous shoes in Tottenham’s next two massive games.
Gareth Bale damaged his right ankle near the end of Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Basle.
He had a scan yesterday and the injury is not as serious as it looked, but he will miss tomorrow’s game against Everton and the Europa League quarter-final second leg in Switzerland next week.
Aaron Lennon and William Gallas will have late fitness tests after picking up knee and calf injuries respectively against Basle.
And with Jermain Defoe also out, Spurs are facing an injury crisis at a critical point of the season.
Bale is the player Spurs will miss the most. He has 22 goals this season and Tottenham have not won a game since January 1 in which he has not scored.
But Dembele is tipping his former Fulham team-mate Dempsey to help dismiss the notion that Andre Villas-Boas’s men are a one-man team.
Dembele said: “The timing isn’t great but we can still finish in the top four without Gareth. We have other players to step up now – and Clint Dempsey is one of those. I remember from my time at Fulham he was very important so I know what he can do .”
Spurs, third in the Premier League, resume their quest for a top-four finish tomorrow at home to sixth-placed Everton.
Midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson added: “It won’t be easy without Gareth, but we have been quite good of late at home and hopefully we can continue that.”