Villas-Boas rotates defenders again

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas rotated his defenders once again as he looked for a second successive away victory at Sunderland.

Jan Vertonghen was named only among the substitutes and William Gallas was not included in the 18 at all as Michael Dawson, who was named captain, and Steven Caulker returned to the starting line-up.

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill made a single change with the ineligible Danny Rose making way for John O’Shea on his return from the illness which kept him out of the Boxing Day victory over champions Manchester City.

Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, O’Shea, Cuellar, Kilgallon, Johnson, Larsson, Colback, McClean, Sessegnon, Fletcher. Subs: Westwood, Campbell, Wickham, McFadden, Vaughan, Ji, Bramble.

Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Naughton, Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Friedel, Dempsey, Vertonghen, Huddlestone, Parker, Sigurdsson, Livermore.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)