Brad Friedel will return in goal for Tottenham's game at Fulham on Sunday despite Carlo Cudicini's heroics against Rubin Kazan, Kevin Bond has confirmed.
Spurs assistant manager Bond took charge of the 1-0 defeat in Russia while Harry Redknapp stayed in London to recover from a heart procedure to unblock two coronary arteries.
"At the moment, the way things are going for Brad, the shirt is his to lose. He is playing really well for us in the league and he has played so many consecutive matches," Bond said.
Redknapp, who is thought to have watched the game from his Dorset home, will not have been pleased with his team's performance as they were torn apart by two-time Russian champions Rubin in a one-sided match, which would have turned into a real hiding had it not been for an excellent performance from Cudicini.
The Italian, 38, made a string of excellent saves at the Tsentralnyi Stadion and drew high praise from Bond afterwards, but he will be relegated to the bench again this weekend.
Like Cudicini, Sebastien Bassong is likely to find himself among the substitutes on Sunday after his blunder cost Spurs the game on Thursday night.
The centre half carelessly hacked down Alexander Ryazantsev after losing control of the ball while trying to dribble out of his own box, and Bibras Natkho dispatched the resulting free-kick to give Rubin the win that knocked Tottenham into third in Europa League Group A.
The Cameroon defender started the season well down the pecking order but began two consecutive matches last month before being dropped for Sunday's game against QPR after Ledley King returned to fitness.
QPR are thought to be lining up another move for the 25-year-old after narrowly missing out on his signature this summer and he admitted he will gladly walk out of Tottenham in January if he is given the chance to leave.
"We all know the situation at Spurs. If I get a chance to go I will go," Bassong said. "If the manager will play me, I will stay. But if he does not, I will go. When the time comes I think January will be a good time to talk about it. Mentally I thought I was going to QPR in the summer. It didn't happen, but something can happen."
Source: PA
