One year after he suffered the pain of missing out on Tottenham's Carling Cup Final victory, Darren Bent must fear that history is about to repeat itself.

With Spurs leading 4-1 from the first leg, Bent is likely to start tonight's second match against Burnley at Turf Moor knowing it could be one of the last chances he has to rescue his White Hart Lane career.

After a blistering start under manager Harry Redknapp, with seven goals in the former Portsmouth boss's first five matches in charge, Bent's form has fallen away spectacularly.

He has scored just once in his last 14 games, and with Redknapp actively seeking another striker, his prospects look bleak.

The 24-year-old is unlikely to leave the club this month but if Spurs book a second Wembley appearance in as many years, against Manchester United, the chances are that he will be left out again.

Bent has spoken this season of how he felt unable to celebrate last year's 2-1 win over Chelsea, as he had been an unused substitute by former manager Juande Ramos.

And with Jermain Defoe having returned to White Hart Lane in a £15.75million deal earlier this month, Bent has slipped down the pecking order once again, as Redknapp has made it clear that Defoe and Roman Pavlyuchenko are his first-choice partnership.

Redknapp has criticised Bent already this season and the Spurs boss hardly endeared himself to his centre-forward on Sunday.

He claimed his wife, Sandra, would have scored the header that Bent missed in the closing stages of the 1-1 draw with Portsmouth.

Redknapp admitted the comments might have hurt the sensitive Bent but he was unrepentant. He said: "I don't regret saying it. What was I supposed to say? That he was unlucky, or that it was a really good effort?

"Maybe he was upset at it but I spoke to him yesterday and there is no problem between us. He has a future here, as do all the players.

"But I am looking to bring players in. We won only three League games between last year's Carling Cup Final and my arrival on 26 October, so I can't sit back and say it is all okay.

"We need to improve the squad, which is why I signed Jermain Defoe and why we agreed a deal with Wigan for Wilson Palacios."

Bent's former manager at Charlton, Alan Curbishley, has no doubts that the striker has the ability to bounce back to form.

He said: "What he needs now is a good run in the team and I am sure he will be okay. His confidence is low at the moment but he's a good finisher and a fine header of the ball.

"I was at White Hart Lane on Sunday and I was just as surprised as anyone when he missed that header. It was so straightforward I believe he anticipated scoring before he made contact with the ball.

"For me, though, it's all about confidence. When Darren was at Ipswich it was the right place for him and the same could be said when he went to Charlton. But at Spurs, he's always been trying to establish himself.

"People forget that, back in 2006, he was in the England squad and should have gone to the World Cup in Germany. I remember Charlton going up to play Manchester United in what was my last game as manager and I took him off at half-time to avoid the risk of him picking up an injury - that's how sure I was he would be in the England squad for the World Cup.

"In the end, though, Sven-Goran Eriksson surprised everyone by picking Theo Walcott and Darren didn't go.

"All he needs now is a decent run in the Spurs team. If he has that, I am sure he will score goals regularly, just as he did for me."

Bent is not the only player whose star has waned after making a fine start to life with Redknapp, as David Bentley has also felt his manager's displeasure in recent weeks.

But after questioning Bentley's work-rate in the first-leg victory over Burnley, Redknapp now believes the 24-year-old is ready to recapture the form that persuaded Spurs to pay Blackburn £15m for him last summer.

Like Bent, Bentley (right) is a sensitive soul, who needs to be given frequent encouragement, and Redknapp confirmed Bentley would return to the starting XI at Turf Moor after telling the England midfielder exactly where he had been going wrong.

The Spurs manager added: "When he got to Spurs, the work ethic suffered a bit with him and he wasn't working as hard as he had in the past.

"But now I think he'll get back to that and with the great skill he has got I'm hoping we'll see the best of David.

"When we spoke, I told him straight. I told him what I thought of him and his performances - what he can do and what he was doing. He took it well. He took it on board and said 'Fine, I'll accept that'. He has trained really hard, closed people down and won tackles. He's back to what we saw at Blackburn.

"I just had a chat with him. I could see with my own eyes that he wasn't doing what he was at Blackburn, where he used to work really, really hard."

Even if Bent and Bentley fail to reach their best form against Burnley, Spurs should still have more than enough to keep their three-goal advantage intact at Turf Moor, with the home side having lost three of their last four games in all competitions.

But, as he continues to stress, survival in the Premier League is far more important to Redknapp than any of the three cup competitions and Spurs's prospects for the rest of the season will look far brighter if two of their England internationals can find their peak.