Robbie Keane was denied his Tottenham debut last night due to an injury to Chris Perry, Glenn Hoddle said.
The Republic of Ireland striker started on the bench against Fulham as Hoddle opted to stick with Teddy Sheringham and Les Ferdinand up front.
Keane was about to be thrown into the action when Perry was involved in a sickening collision with Pierre Wome as they slid in for a 50-50 challenge.
Hoddle explained to spurs.co.uk: "He was warmed up and ready to come on just before Chris Perry got drastically injured. Obviously he couldn't go on at right-back so Gary Doherty went on.
"It was still in my mind to bring him on then Matthew Etherington held his hand up and said his knee had gone, so it was forced upon us to make a change.
"I didn't want to put him on the right side of midfield, Steffen Iversen has done that for his country, so that was the reason Robbie wasn't used. He was warmed up and ready to come on but we needed a rethink".