Ramos happy to shuffle forward pack

Defoe came off the bench to grab the late winner in Sunday's 2-1 win over Manchester City, his first strike under Ramos and a goal that reopened the debate over why he sees such little action.

Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov appear to be the first-choice pair for Ramos, and Darren Bent has been given two starts in the last week without making an impact, but Ramos said: "There's no one, two, three or four in order," said Ramos. "We simply have four centre-forwards to play in two positions so two can play each game and two have to sit it out."

Even with Keane suspended for another two matches, Ramos cannot guarantee Defoe a run of games.

"Obviously we now only have three forwards to choose from so the minutes will get shared around, mathematically he has more chance of playing," Ramos said.

Defoe has insisted he is happy at White Hart Lane, but is yet to sign the new deal Spurs have talked about, with chairman Daniel Levy fearing losing the striker for nothing as they did with Sol Campbell.

City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson was his usual ice-cool self after the defeat at White Hart Lane but he had every right to be angry.

For the opener on the stroke of half-time, Berbatov earned a dubious free-kick and Pascal Chimbonda was offside when he glanced it in with his arm. City were level on the hour mark when substitute Rolando Bianchi was unmarked to powerfully head home Martin Petrov's corner.

The visitors looked likely to snatch a winner or hold on to the point they needed to go back into the top four, but the game changed when Stephen Ireland was dismissed for a sickening tackle on Young-Pyo Lee in the 82nd minute. Defoe smashed in from the resulting set-piece.

"Stephen Ireland is a young, very good football player, and he will get better and better," said the Swede. "He should not have done the tackle but he did it."