Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is reluctant to start with Peter Crouch for fear it will turn the team into a long-ball side. The 6ft 7in striker has been restricted to just one Barclays Premier League start since his summer switch from Portsmouth, against Manchester United last month. Redknapp dropped the England striker for Tottenham's subsequent league matches against Chelsea and Burnley. He told the Daily Mail: I felt we went back-to-front a little bit too early against United, because of Peter. We suddenly wanted to hit him too early with not enough quality.

"It was a case of him fighting for balls whereas we could have played more and dropped more quality balls in from better areas to him. We didn't give our midfield time to get up and support. "We can play it too long at times because he's an easy option for you. If you just keep lumping it from the back it's not really our way of playing. We like to pass it and play.'