Keane carrying injury, says Spurs boss

Tottenham could be left with just one available striker for Saturday’s trip to Manchester City after it was revealed today that Robbie Keane is carrying a knee injury.

Keane has been playing through the pain for the last few weeks but head coach Martin Jol is not optimistic the Irishman’s swollen knee will settle in time for him to make tomorrow’s flight to Manchester.

And with Tottenham already frustratingly without Jermain Defoe, who is suspended after picking up a careless booking against Middlesbrough, Jol is busy making contingency plans.

The most likely scenario is that he will alter Tottenham’s formation and start Frederic Kanoute as a lone striker with five in midfield.

“Robbie Keane has a problem with his knee. We will have to look at the situation tomorrow but it doesn’t look good,” Jol admitted.

“It happened a couple of weeks ago, but he is a good character so he played on. Now it has swollen up and I am worried about him for the short term. If it is still swollen tomorrow we could have a problem.

“I have several options – Edson Silva or Mark Yeates, who is playing well in the second team. I could even think of one of our midfield players, like Michael Brown, playing further forward or use a 4-5-1 system.

“Four or five teams playing in the Premiership play with one striker. The 4-5-1 system is very popular nowadays.”

Chelsea have used a lone striker to magnificent effect, but they make sure Didier Drogba or Eidur Gudjohnsen is well supported by his midfield, particularly those out wide.

But Tottenham still lack any natural width with Simon Davies only just returned to full training and Reto Ziegler out with a hamstring injury.

This lack of depth – and shortage of top-class strikers in particular – is Jol’s chief concerns and something he has indicated needs to be addressed when the January transfer window.

“Arsenal or the big teams have four strikers. I hope we will be a big club again in the near future,” he said today.