Villas-Boas backs Popov card

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas feels referee Mark Clattenburg made the right decision in dismissing Goran Popov in the 1-0 win over West Brom.

The Albion defender enraged his boss Steve Clarke when he was sent off for spitting on Tottenham right back Kyle Walker.

And Villas-Boas echoed Clarke's sentiments and praised Walker for not reacting to the incident.

He said: "It's difficult for the ref, but Popov did what he did and Walker did nothing to react.

"It's difficult to assess but I think Mark Clattenburg made the right decision. It's horrible and nasty."

Tottenham have collected four points from two away games at Norwich and West Bromwich in the space of four days, and Villas-Boas is delighted with the return.

"It has been a very important week for us," The Spurs manager added. "To get four points away from home, with not much time between the games, is excellent.



"We have put ourselves in a very good position to threaten for third place."

AVB: Fine won't stop racist chants

Andre Villas-Boas fears Lazio's fine for monkey chanting will not stop their fans doing the same again on Thursday when they host Tottenham at the Stadio Olimpico in the Europa League.



Lazio were last month fined £32,500 after UEFA found their fans guilty of chanting racist abuse towards Jermain Defoe, Andros Townsend and Aaron Lennon in September's 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane.



UEFA have been criticised in the past for their lenient punishments for racism and Villas-Boas told a press conference on Wednesday night: "UEFA decided to punish Lazio and rightly so. It doesn't mean that incidents won't happen again tomorrow."



He added: "I think the players are in the right frame of mind to leave the authorities to deal with those situations in case it happens. That's something that hopefully will not happen tomorrow."



Spurs defender Steven Caulker is all too aware of the fact that racism has reared its ugly head in the game once again this season. He played in the controversial goalless draw against the Italians in September and was also on the pitch when the England Under-21 team were subjected to monkey chanting in Serbia four weeks later.



Fans and players of the Rome club have been accused of an affiliation with right-wing politics in Italy in the past, but he hopes there will be no trouble in the Group J match in Rome.



"I'm not worried about the atmosphere - I hope football does the talking," the England centre-half said. "Italy is a great footballing country. Hopefully that will be the talking point tomorrow."



Spurs will progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League if they beat the Italian giants in the Eternal City. The Londoners have struggled so far in the competition, with their only win coming in their last game against Slovenian minnows Maribor.



A draw should still be enough to see Villas-Boas' men through, providing they beat Panathinaikos in the final group game in December. Villas-Boas, who won the Europa League two years ago with Porto, would like to wrap up qualification on Thursday, however.



"It's all about this game," the 35-year-old said. "It will be important for us to win and qualify. It will give the squad an important feeling of beating a great team away from home."

Dembele ruled out of derby

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas says the north London derby against Arsenal has come too soon for Moussa Dembele to be considered.



The Belgian playmaker has missed Spurs' last eight matches with a niggling hip injury but had hoped to be fit in time for the Emirates Stadium clash.

Villas-Boas said he hoped the 25-year-old would not need surgery to rectify the problem but may still not be ready in time for next week's Europa League trip to Lazio.

But Villas-Boas said: "Dembele does not have a chance, not for this game. There is a 50% chance he will be back for the Lazio game.

"I think surgery at the moment is out of the question, hopefully."

Villas-Boas also gave updates on Jermain Defoe, Kyle Walker and Aaron Lennon, who all suffered hamstring injuries in last week's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, with the latter most likely to be ready to face the Gunners.

"They haven't trained with the team yet. They have had lighter sessions on their own," Villas-Boas said of the trio.



"We will have to see today how they return to see if there's any disturbance. Lennon had a scan yesterday, and it's fine on his hamstring."