Bale back for Spurs

Gareth Bale will return to the Spurs starting XI for tomorrow’s match at Blackburn after he was rested for Thursday’s 1-0 win over Rubin Kazan.

Redknapp made nine changes to his team for the 1-0 win over the Russian side, which was settled by a brilliant free-kick from Roman Pavlyuchenko.

The strike, only Pavlyuchenko’s second of the season, will not be enough to earn him a place in the starting line-up for tomorrow’s game, however, with Redknapp keen to recall in-form star Emmanuel Adebayor to play up front alongside either Rafael van der Vaart or Jermain Defoe.

The Tottenham manager said: “I have good competition up front. Defoe scored a good goal last week and Adebayor has been in good form.

“It’s difficult with Pav. He is a good lad. He gets on with it and if he works hard and puts the effort in home and away he will be a top player, there is no doubt about that. ”When he is on his game he is fantastic player. He has great ability, great power in his shooting.

“But I can only pick the people I think deserve to play at the end of the day. Adebayor has been excellent leading the line.”

Meanwhile, Spurs have denied being behind the mystery complaint to the European Commission which was blamed for the collapse of West Ham’s bid to move to the Olympic Stadium.

West Ham won the right to move into the London 2012 showpiece, but the north London club challenged the Olympic Park Legacy Company’s (OPLC) decision in the courts and the deal fell through 10 days ago.

An anonymous complaint to the European Commission about the role of Newham Council’s £40m loan in West Ham’s bid is understood to be part of the reason why the agreement with the Hammers collapsed, and it has been rumoured that Spurs were behind that complaint.

The club hit back at those suggestions today, however, with a spokeswoman saying: “It was not us and it was not (rival bidder) Leyton Orient. The reason it wasn’t us was because it would be totally illogical for us to go to a European court at a time when we were engaged in a legal process in the UK.”