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Adam Carroll-Smith STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Peter Crouch has promised to rediscover his scoring touch and pilot Tottenham into the Champions League for the second successive season, starting with Saturday’s home match against Bolton.

England striker Crouch scored only his second Premier League goal of the season with what proved to be the winner at Blackburn’s Ewood Park in midweek.

Crouch’s other goal was also against Blackburn in the corresponding fixture at White Hart Lane earlier in the season and his return to form could hardly be more timely.

Tottenham go into the Bolton match in fifth place and with the top four automatically qualifying for Europe, Harry Redknapp badly needs a consistent goal-scorer.

Crouch said: “I was due a goal and it was all the better because it won us the match. I know people have been criticising me for not getting more and I admit I should have done.

“But I have played my part in a lot of the goals we have scored this season and I have done my bit for the team.

“We are at the stage of the season where we need to pick up points and get among the Champions League places. Every point is precious.

“We are still in this year’s competition, of course, and next up is AC Milan but we cannot get ahead of ourselves and our focus is now on beating Bolton.

“Bolton are a tough side to beat and they will make life awkward for us on Saturday. The manager will be anxious for us to use our home advantage.”

Redknapp has his problems with Michael Dawson suspended and William Gallas playing on despite a hip injury for the benefit of the team.Redknapp named perennially injured Jonathan Woodgate on the bench for the first time in 16 months and may have to again this weekend.

Bolton had been going through a difficult spell until Daniel Sturridge came on as a substitute and scored the 93rd minute winner at home to Wolverhampton in midweek.

Sturridge, on loan until the end of the season, appears to have been the victim of the Fernando Torres signing at Chelsea and has moved north again to gather experience.

Sturridge became an instant hero for the Reebok crowd with his debut goal and has promised many more to come before his time is up.

The 21-year-old striker said: “My first goal will not be my last, I can assure fans of that. I am here to score goals and I will give everything for the cause while I am here.

“The manager told me before the match to be ready to come on and light the place up and afterwards he said I had done that.

“Bolton are up to eighth now and I think from what I saw against Wolves we can go even higher.

“There is a lot of competition for places at Chelsea and it is even tougher now Torres has arrived. Coming to Bolton has given me the chances to get some games in and show what I can do.”

Labels: Bolton, Hotspur, Preview, SportsTicker, WanderersTottenham

Beckham trained with Spurs during Major League Soccer's off-season although a proposed loan move fell through.

Redknapp has no immediate plans to sign the 35-year-old when his MLS contract expires in November but a further training spell could be arranged.

"He's been great to have around, he's welcome back any time," Redknapp said.

Beckham had hoped to turn out for Spurs when he began his six week training spell with the club in January but negotiations between the Galaxy and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy broke down.

And speaking ahead of Tuesday's Premier League game against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road Redknapp admitted that there have yet to be any discussions about a potential return for the former England captain.

"I think he would like to see what the future holds for him," he reasoned.

"I've not looked into bringing him back in November.

"He can still play, he still pick a pass out. I've not looked into bringing him back in November - the chairman would need to look at that, I don't know what the financial side of it would be."

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder should feature in the Galaxy's season opener against Seattle Sounders on 15 March.

And commenting on Beckham's willingness to uproot to London for six weeks of training Redknapp said: "He's a busy lad, his life must be unbelievable, but when you get a lad who wants to come here and train every day when he could be sitting at home having a month's rest, it tells you everything about him."

Labels: Beckham, David, Hotspur, return, Sport, Tottenham

19.40 It's Jeff Stelling on Sky for us tonight. From the sound of it, he's lost his voice a little. The teams are in the tunnel. William Gallas and Mathieu Flamini share a warm embrace in the tunnel. All right, lay off that.

19.35 What do we reckon? Can Tottenham pull this one out of the bag? Or will AC Milan - who have looked in impressive form of late in Serie A - pick them off? Do drop us a line.

19.15 Milan line up pretty much as expected, with Robinho preferred to Alexandre Pato. For Tottenham, Luka Modric misses the starting XI but makes the bench after being laid low by an appendix-related illness thing, Peter Crouch takes the lone striker role ahead of Jermain Defoe, and there's the heartening sight of Jonathan Woodgate on the bench. The last time he played for Tottenham, they won 9-1. I'm not sure that's strictly relevant, but, you know.

19.10 Hands up. When Tottenham were 3-0 down after half an hour against Young Boys, who thought we would see this moment? Tottenham's Champions League journey to this point has been the metaphorical topsy-turvy, up-and-down, never-dull, all-action, roller-coaster/thrill ride/soap opera/see-saw. It's the San Siro again for them, as they take on the mighty-but-not-quite-as-mighty-as-they-were AC Milan. Stricken by injuries (to his team, not himself), Harry Redknapp has pledged all-out attack, vowing to 'have a right go'. Of course, it might have been one of those Redknapp-esque, twinkle-in-the-eye quips (for which read: outright lie) for which he is becoming renowned. But if Tottenham do give it a go, it should be quite a contest. Right, let's get some team news before I break the hyphen key on my keyboard.

AC Milan (4-3-1-2): Abbiati; Abate, Nesta, Yepes, Antonini; Gattuso, Thiago Silva, Flamini; Seedorf; Robinho, Ibrahimovic.

Subs: Amelia, Pato, Papastathopoulos, Oddo, Jankulovski, Merkel, Legrottaglie.

Tottenham (4-4-1-1): Gomes; Corluka, Gallas, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Palacios, Sandro, Pienaar; Van der Vaart; Crouch.

Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Modric, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Woodgate.

Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)

Labels: Hotspur, Milan, Telegraphcouk, Tottenham

Prizes come in many forms. Tottenham Hotspur, above all, have a fine prospect of stepping into the last eight of the Champions League following this first-leg result. Beyond that there is the pride in overcoming a club of Milan's renown, although the current side fell far from the standards once expected of them. The second-half winner from Peter Crouch was merited for Spurs' showing over the span of the night.

Milan took it so badly that the midfielder Gennaro Gattuso seemed to butt the Tottenham coach Joe Jordan at full-time. There was real harm done earlier, however, by a terrible two-foot challenge from Mathieu Flamini that ended Vedran Corluka's night. He had done much to bring vitality to Tottenham's play by cutting loose on the right when the contest wasstill taking shape. The referee, Stéphane Lannoy,somehow saw fit merely to book Flamini.

Even with Corluka hurt so severely, there was cause for Tottenham to be encouraged as Jonathan Woodgate emerged to make his first appearance in a competitive game since injuries engulfed him last, in November 2009. Milan were right to be wary of a team on the rise who are seeing events run to their benefit. Nobody missed even the injured Gareth Bale, who had notched a hat-trick at this ground against Internazionale in October.

The Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri understood the risk he faced and was conservative in putting the Brazilian forward Pato initially among the substitutes. His strategies still malfunctioned as Clarence Seedorf, now 34, looked too venerable for attacking midfield duties and he was necessarily substituted. Tottenham had swagger and also a blend of talents, with Sandro and Wilson Palacios adding a crucial solidity to the midfield.

Luka Modric, a couple of weeks after having his appendix removed, came off the bench eventually, but the initial line-up probably suited Tottenham for this type of encounter.

They looked settled from the outset. Crouch could not make much of Corluka's cross in the fifth minute, but he settled the outcome eventually. The winner was slick as Aaron Lennon went past Mario Yepes to set up the goal.

Milan were off-balance throughout and had distractions such as the loss of the goalkeeper Christian Abbiati after he seemed to hurt his head while challenged by Crouch for a cross. Half an hour passed without his Spurs counterpart Heurelho Gomes being involved in a notable way.

The one frisson of alarm had come when Sandro felled Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 23rd minute, but the contact was just outside the area and the referee saw no offence in any case. The inconspicuous striker did not catch the eye until putting the ball in the net only after shoving Michael Dawson in stoppage time. They did not want to be drawn into an unstable, incident-strewn game. The potential consequences of such an evening had been illustrated in Tottenham's 4-3 defeat at San Siro in the group stage. It might as well have been Inter who had been beaten that night, however. They took full points from the match, but also carried an inferiority complex with them. Harry Redknapp's side qualified ahead of them for this phase of the competition.

There is supposed to be a prize for that in the encounter with a club that could only come second in its group. In Milan's case the situation is more complex since they had been gathering momentum until now in Allegri's first season. The manager seemed to feel that Tottenham would be toppled eventually in this tie because they are an unbalanced team. There was no indication of that.

Tottenham were still in the ascendant when, four minutes from half-time, the replacement goalkeeper Marco Amelia tipped over an effort from Rafael van der Vaart. As the away side, they had also taken some precautionary measures, but briefly made a greater effort to exploit Milan.

Gomes did well to reach a header by Yepes and put it behind for a corner. Tottenham were under stress and the centre-half Yepes caused alarm more than once with aerial prowess that called for superb reactions and agility from the goalkeeper. Having commanded at times, Redknapp's men showed they also knew how to cope and eventually to prosper.

The losers were desperate, with Ibrahimovic applying a very obvious shove to Dawson before netting in stoppage time.

There are various punishments ahead for Milan. Some will now see the club's position at the head of Serie A as an indictment of Italian football. That is too extreme a conclusion to draw from a single evening at San Siro. It is enough to say that Milan fared badly when compelled to meet a keen and rising force such as Tottenham.

Labels: breakaway, Crouch, Guardian, Hotspur, Milan, Peter, skids, Tottenham, under

Feb 15 (Reuters) - AC Milan 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0 - Champions League first knockout round (last 16), first leg latest:

At the San Siro

Referee: Stephane Lannoy (France)

(Editing by Tom Pilcher; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Hotspur, Latest, Milan, Reuters, Tottenham