Tottenham’s late show hero Jonathan Woodgate should be fit to face Manchester United in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday.

 

Woodgate scored a soaring header against Hull on Monday night only to suffer a bad gash to his head shortly afterwards. However, boss Harry Redknapp has said that he is confident the defender will recover in sufficient time to play. Whether he makes the line-up for Spur’s badly-timed UEFA Cup match against Shakhtar Donetsk on Thursday is another matter. It is a game that Redknapp himself wishes Spurs were not playing and he denounced the situation as ‘crazy’. “Whoever heard of playing a game Thursday night before you play in a cup final on the weekend?” said the former Pompey boss "What am I supposed to do after Thursday night? Play the same lot again at Wembley?”.

Carlo Cudicini must hope that subsequent games in the Spurs goal provide a much smoother ride than Monday night. Some may have taken a double glance on certain occasions believing that Gomez was playing. The former Chelsea man certainly would have hoped for a more convincing outing.