Van der Vaart blow for Spurs

Tottenham's injury crisis deepened on Thursday night with the news Rafael van der Vaart is likely to miss the club's next three games with a hamstring injury.

Van der Vaart has played a key part in Tottenham's impressive form recently, but struggled to make an impact in the 1-1 draw against Chelsea and had to come off at half-time after complaining of a hamstring injury.

It is not the first time the Dutchman has spent a spell on the sidelines due to a hamstring complaint, and he is now doubtful for the upcoming games against Norwich, Swansea and West Brom, manager Harry Redknapp confirmed after the game, and he said: "I'd think he would be out for the festive period."

He added: "He seems to suffer from hamstring problems a lot and he got another one, but when he plays he's a fantastic footballer, the little fella."

Five of Redknapp's squad are now on the sidelines with hamstring complaints.

Aaron Lennon suffered his injury against Sunderland on Sunday and is likely to be out for the club's next three games, while Ledley King and Younes Kaboul both hurt their hamstrings on Thursday night, the latter in the warm up.

Jermain Defoe was absent with his hamstring problem, but Redknapp hopes the England striker could be fit for the club's trip to Norwich on December 27.

He is desperately needed as Van der Vaart is now out and Emmanuel Adebayor and Roman Pavlyuchenko have been struggling with knocks recently.

Redknapp said: "I don't know whether Jermain will be fit. We'll see how he goes. Hopefully Adebayor and Pav are OK, so we'll have a couple of strikers. I'm hoping Jermain might be fit."