Juande Ramos is set to gamble on his future as Tottenham manager tonight by throwing Ledley King back into the team against Udinese in the UEFA Cup.

The move will almost certainly rule the Spurs skipper out of Sunday's Premier League match with Bolton as the defender is unable to play two matches in a week because of chronic knee problems.

Ramos has received the backing of chairman Daniel Levy, but knows that defeat in either of the next two matches will leave him in a worse position.

Tottenham are without Vedran Corluka, who is cup-tied, and Ramos believes he needs King to anchor the defence and get the team winning again.

The Spaniard said: "At this stage, the Udinese game is the most important, not the one against Bolton. If we lose tomorrow, the atmosphere in the group will be even worse.

"But if we win, we will be more confident when we play Bolton. That is what we have to remember."

Ramos admits that his side are fighting relegation, yet still he refuses to attach more importance to Premier League survival than potential European success. Many Spurs fans are desperate for their manager to embrace fully their team's battle to avoid the drop by ensuring that captain King plays in as many League matches as possible.

Ramos was brought to White Hart Lane on a £4million-a-year contract on the back of his success in cup football with Sevilla, whom he guided to successive UEFA Cups in 2006 and 2007. And it seems that he is finding it difficult to accept the idea of putting cup competitions on the back burner in favour of trying to correct his team's form in the league, where they have still to win a league fixture.

Spurs remain determined to stick by Ramos, but the problems continue to mount for the former Sevilla boss.

Winger David Bentley, who has struggled at Spurs since his £16million move from Blackburn during the summer and has lost his place in Fabio Capello's England squad, has revealed that he was unhappy at White Hart Lane during the early weeks of the campaign.

Asked to describe Spurs' start, Bentley said: "It has been shocking. It has been difficult, especially for me. I was not enjoying it, and it has been difficult out on the pitch.

"We haven't been together; we didn't know where people were running, or what they were doing. But I think we are starting to settle, and people are becoming more confident."

Ramos, meanwhile, found an ally in Udinese boss Pasquale Marino, who described the Spaniard as "a perfect coach".

But Marino could not resist a dig at the struggling north Londoners by hinting that his team, second in Serie A, were playing without fear and that it was no big deal if they failed to beat Spurs at the Stadio Friuli.

Marino said: "We are experiencing a better moment, and we are in a better position than Spurs, which is good for our team, because it is to our advantage.

"We do not feel the pressure; we do not even need to achieve a perfect result. We just need to wait for our moment in the game, and make sure we take our chances when they arrive."