Bale blow for Spurs as defender ruled out for the season

The club's sporting director Damian Comolli announced this afternoon that the £10million signing from Southampton will not recover from a foot injury until the summer.

The 18-year-old Wales left-back suffered a strained ligament following a tackle from Birmingham's Fabrice Muamba during the 3-2 home defeat at the start of December and has only just had his cast removed.

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Comolli said: "Gareth's injury was reviewed and although the surgeon was happy with the results of the X-rays, he does not anticipate Gareth being able to play any further part in this season.

"We are all disappointed for Gareth, but he is still very young and his long-term fitness is our priority."

Bale's injury made signing a left-back one of Comolli's priorities during the January transfer window, and Gilberto was brought in for about £2m despite the deal being held up and appearing to collapse.

With Benoit Assou-Ekotto also out for the rest of the campaign, Young-Pyo Lee has played there for much of the season but he favours his right foot.

Pascal Chimbonda was selected at left-back against Manchester United at the weekend and midfielders Jamie O'Hara and Teemu Tainio have also had spells there.

Rather surprisingly not all is well at White Hart Lane.

Despite hammering north London rivals 5-1 to reach the Carling Cup Final a fortnight ago and holding champions Manchester United to a draw on Saturday, centre half Michael Dawson has admitted that his team-mates are still devastated following their 1-1 draw against United.

Tottenham thought they had secured all three points against the Premier League champions after Dimitar Berbatov's goal looked to have handed them a crucial victory.

But the Tottenham players could not believe their luck when Dawson put through his own goal in the fourth minute of injury time.

Dawson said: "I can't find the right words. It feels like we've been beaten 5-0.

"I thought we were in control of game and from minute one, we were tremendous. I'm just distraught.

"We were all sat in the dressing room and the feeling was if we'd lost, yet we'd just come off after playing well and getting a draw against Manchester United.

"If we were under a bit of pressure and fluked a 1-0 win it might be different but that certainly wasn't the case and that's why it feels like a defeat. We were 1-0 up with seconds left. We're all devastated.

"That shows where we want to be though and that's how we've got to play week in, week out."

Meanwhile, Jonathan Woodgate has been credited with bringing a calmness to the Spurs defence in the last two games.

Fellow new signing Alan Hutton, after his debut against United, said: "I thought we looked solid. The defence is looking good in my eyes, so, hopefully we can go from strength to strength."