Rebrov praises 'the enemy'

Tottenham striker Sergei Rebrov has risked antagonising his own fans by warmly praising Arsenal as "the most prominent of London clubs".

Ukrainian international Rebrov, who joined Spurs for £11 million during the summer, told the Sport-Express newspaper in Russia: "Arsene Wenger is a very ambitious coach and I am so impressed with the performance of the leading players, especially strikers like Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord.

"Individually, each of them is so strong that it compensates for some faults in Arsenal's play as a team. Each of them is capable of winning a game. I don't envy the Spartak defenders who will be responsible for marking them in Moscow and nobody should be under any illusion after recent losses by Arsenal in the Premiership."

Derby's Georgi Kinkladze had a different opinion, claiming: "Now is the best time to defeat Arsenal because the club are in very poor form." Meanwhile, police are probing a massive black market ticket scam for tonight's clash. Prices of some tickets with a face value of around £4 have soared to more than £100.

Supporters have inundated Moscow newspapers with complaints of a ticket mafia preventing thousands of genuine fans attending the game, which is expected to attract a record 82,000 crowd at Luzhniki Stadium.

An officer from the FSB, the renamed KGB secret services, admitted today an organised racket was behind ticket sales for the Champions League meeting with Arsenal.