Hoddle hails the new 'Brooking'

"He is a very creative player from midfield and at 24 years of age he's one for the future for us. Fans at the moment won't know much about him but they'll take to him.

"He has a little bit of the style of Trevor Brooking in that he rides challenges, he's strong on the ball and gets in and scores goals. Milenko is a level-headed lad, wants to learn and he's one with an eye on the future.

"It's pretty obvious what we went for this season with Teddy Sheringham and Gus Poyet and that worked out well as they've been our most consistent players. But we need to look at the bigger picture and we are starting to do that."

Hoddle, meanwhile, ruled out any return this weekend for injured first-team stars Dean Richards, Ledley King, Tim Sherwood and Christian Ziege. "There is no chance of anyone coming back," he said. "They are just starting to do some running and getting out onto the training ground but this game will come too quickly for any of them to come back."

However, Sergei Rebrov could make his last appearance in a Tottenham shirt after recovering from a virus.