Published: 18 October, 2012
OFF THE SHELF with DAN CARRIER

ANDRE Villas-Boas has been keeping his fingers crossed that his charges on international duty all return in one piece for the crunch lunch-time kick-off against Chelsea on Saturday.

AVB watched his players scatter across the globe as World Cup qualifiers saw most of the Spurs first team play for their countries. And now he faces the agonising decision whether to stick with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris or go back to using Brad Friedel for the derby against his former employers Chelsea – a game he will surely be desperate to win.

Lloris sent AVB a reminder of his capabilities as France stopped world champions Spain from making it 24 straight World Cup qualifying victories in a row with a magnificent penalty save.

Other Spurs in action saw Clint Dempsey score twice for the USA against Guatemala, Gareth Bale also scored twice as Wales beat Scotland, while Gylfi Sigurdsson scored for Iceland against Albania. Jan Vertonghen and Moussa Dembele played vital roles in Belgium’s 2-0 victory over Scotland.

Meanwhile, Spurs youngsters Danny Rose, Steven Caulker, Andros Townsend and Adam Smith were subjected to vile racist abuse by crowds during England’s under-21s game against Serbia on Tuesday night.

Rose’s red card is likely to be appealed by the FA as they compile a dossier over the disgraceful chants from Serbian fans which sparked an on-pitch mass brawl.