Tottenham boss Juande Ramos insisted his selection policy for Saturday's game would not upset Birmingham's relegation rivals.Ramos made five changes from the side which had lifted the Carling Cup at Chelsea's expense with the injured Ledley King and Jonathan Woodgate plus the rested Robbie Keane, Jermaine Jenas and Aaron Lennon missing from the starting line-up.

But he said: "The season is long and over 38 matches and I don't think one match has too much bearing on the overall results at the end of the season.

"I would say the teams that do go down do so because that is what they deserve over the whole season. There are good and bad matches. Birmingham played a good match, we played less good than we could have done.

"One or two players have knocks and niggles at the moment. Every game is very important for us. Tottenham is a very competitive side in all competitions.

"But we can't compare ourselves to the top four in terms of depth of squad. Manchester United have a very large and talented squad and it doesn't surprise me they can go out with a reduced team and win comfortably (at Fulham)."

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