Harry Redknapp Hails Van der Vaart But Admits Injuries In Defence Are A Concern After Tottenham's Win Over Aston Villa

Harry Redknapp has praised the performance of Rafael van der Vaart after Tottenham overturned a 1-0 deficit to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at White Hart Lane.

Redknapp believes his change at half-time allowed the Netherlands international the freedom to be Spurs' creative inspiration.

He said of Van der Vaart: "He was excellent again. I changed things at half-time [replaced Pavlyuchenko with Lennon] as I thought we looked very open in the first-half, so having one up front allowed him [Van der Vaart] to float around and play."

The manager added: "He'll score goals. He scored goals at Hamburg, he's a goalscorer. He always wants to receive the ball, he's always looking to score.

"When the ball goes up to Peter Crouch he’s always around there. He’s got that knack of scoring goals. He’s got a great left foot and an eye for goal. He’s always going to pop-up and be dangerous."

Redknapp hailed his team's fighting spirit after Tottenham came from behind to clinch the victory, adding: "We came from behind against Wolves the other week, and we've done it again today. It was a good three points today."

Despite his team's win, the 63-year-old lamented the long injury list his side has, but hopes his sidelined players will return to match action aftter the international break.

He said: "[Huddlestone] did OK at the back. It was difficult [forming the defence]. Charlie [Corluka] played there [centre back] last week, and he's a right-back.

"Ledley [King] failed a fitness test this morning, he was not fit to play. He's done his groin this time, it’s not his knee. But hopefully he’ll be fine in two weeks' time.

"[William] Gallas should be OK, [Younes] Kaboul got a hamstring, so hopefully one or two of them will be OK by then [after the international break]."