Jenas threatens to get ugly in bid to lift Tottenham off the bottom

13 April 2012

Jermaine Jenas believes Tottenham will have to get ugly to kick-start their season against Wigan and lift themselves off the bottom of the Premier League.

Spurs have earned a point at Chelsea but lost their other three games, with Wigan and striker Emile Heskey expected to use a physical approach at White Hart Lane.


Getting ugly: Tottenham's Jermaine Jenas (left)


Jenas wants Spurs to match their opponents and build on their UEFA Cup win against Wisla Krakow in midweek.

"We've got great technical players but the Premier League is not like that sometimes and you have to dig in and make it scrappy," Jenas said.

"It's all about the three points. Teams are not going to just let us play football so we have to stand up and be counted.

"Sometimes you can get yourselves in a rut and we were in that effectively.

"The attitude has always been there but we've had the odd thing not going for us or the odd chance not going in at a vital time. Against Wisla we thought that this was the time to get it moving."

Spurs looked nervous at times against Wisla and an away goal from the Poles left the tie in the balance going back to Krakow a week on Thursday.

Jenas, however, added: "There is a different feeling around the ground, it's a bit more chirpy and there is a buzz. We need to take that in to the match against Wigan.

"It worked against us after drawing with Chelsea because we then had an international break. It's up to us now to stick together and get a result."

Grabbing the winner against Wisla took Darren Bent's tally to three in three games, putting forward his case for stepping into the shoes of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane.

"I'd swap the three goals for a win but I'm delighted with my form and hope I can keep going on and keep putting the ball in the back of the net," said the striker.

"I've always been a firm believer that if I get the games then I'll get the goals."

Bent is wary of the threat Heskey will offer Wigan, adding: "He's been brilliant. In England's big results recently he has been playing in them.

"It was harsh that he got left out during the periods that he was being criticised but he works so hard for the team and you can't take that away from him."

Bent could be partnered by Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was cup-tied against Wisla, while Vedran Corluka is also back.

Luka Modric is out with a knee injury and Alan Hutton misses out with a foot complaint.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in