Harry Redknapp taking Hearts seriously despite Tynecastle snub

The hotly-anticipated clash has been framed by mounting problems for Redknapp and the London club. Included on the list has been the failure to find suitable accommodation in the Capital due to the Edinburgh festival, which has meant a relocation 50 miles north to St Andrews for the Spurs squad.

More likely to impact on tonight's scoreline is the injury crisis which has left Spurs stricken to the extent that Jake Livermore, who was linked with a loan move to Rangers earlier this summer, is their only fit central midfielder.

In addition to all this strife, Spurs risk being caught cold tonight after their opening league fixture against Everton last weekend was postponed because of the recent riots in London.

While Joe Jordan, the Spurs first-team coach, stressed on Tuesday that Redknapp would play his strongest side tonight, his options have been severely reduced by a very early injury crisis at the club, and Spurs now scheduled to begin their domestic campaign with a league match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday night.

Redknapp yesterday confirmed that influential midfielder Luka Modric, the subject of prolonged interest from Chelsea, has been ruled out of the visit to Tynecastle due to a groin strain. He joins the likes of Tom Huddlestone, Jermaine Jenas, Wilson Palacios and Sandro on the sidelines.

It has left the manager with just one recognised central midfielder in Livermore, although stand-ins could include players of the quality of Rafael Van der Vaart. "We're now trying to invent a new formation with only one midfielder in the team," joked Redknapp.

However, he was deadly serious when it was put to the manager that by declining the invitation to train at Tynecastle last night Spurs were disrespecting their Scottish hosts. They will be given their first glimpse of the stadium only after travelling down from St Andrews by coach today, with Uefa stipulating that the away side must arrive at the stadium at least 75 minutes before kick-off.

Redknapp, who will make his first visit to Tynecastle this evening, pointed out that the players had been put through their paces at the Spurs' training base in Essex yesterday morning. The squad then flew to Edinburgh, from where they continued the journey to north Fife.

"It's not arrogance, not at all," he said. "It's just we are so far away from there (Edinburgh]. We simply couldn't get a hotel within an hour and a half of Edinburgh. We're an hour and 45 minutes away but it's not the end of the world.

"There's no need to train on the Wednesday night because we have trained here this morning," he explained. "Lots of clubs do that, Arsenal do that. They train at their training ground and then travel in the evening like we are going to do today. They don't go and train on the pitch."

"Listen," he added. "The pitch is the pitch. I'm sure it's a nice surface and it has grass. We're not playing on Astroturf or anything like that. So we'll travel up tonight for that reason. We have great respect for Hearts and I know it will be a difficult game."Redknapp provided reporters with a colourful dismissal of the suggestion that the Spurs players might be hampered by the near-two hour bus journey from St Andrews to Edinburgh prior to what promises to be a full-blooded 90 minutes on the pitch. "When I was manager at Bournemouth we'd have six hours on the bus on a Saturday morning and then jump out and play the game," he said, reasonably.

Redknapp told how Jordan, who managed Hearts between 1990 and 1993, had warned him about what to expect from Tynecastle. "I haven't been to Tynecastle but Joe Jordan's told me all about it," he said.

"He went to watch them last week and (coach] Clive Allen was there at the weekend. They're not a bad side and it's a difficult place to go. There will be a full house and an intimidating atmosphere. It'll be a good test."

Spurs skipper Michael Dawson had also heard all about Tynecastle from Jordan, who experienced some special European nights himself when manager at Hearts.

"It's maybe a little bit different that we won't see the stadium before the match, but we know what it will take once we run out," he pointed out yesterday.

"In that respect, it's the same as every other game. We need to be ready because we know it's going to be a hostile atmosphere.

"One bonus is the fact we don't have too far to travel compared with being drawn against an eastern European team. But this is a very tough game and we need to be at it."