Alan Hutton believes the lure of the Premier League explains Alex McLeish's decision to swap international football for a relegation dogfight.Hutton, the 23-year-old right-back, played under McLeish for Scotland in their inspirational Euro 2008 qualifiers, and both have since moved south.

Birmingham recruited McLeish following Steve Bruce's departure, while Hutton secured an £8million move from Rangers to Tottenham in January - and the pair face each other for the first time this weekend.

"I wasn't really surprised," said Hutton. "It was totally understandable. It's a massive job coming here so it was a great opportunity for him, like myself, to be down here.

"Hopefully I can do really well and, hopefully, so can he."

While Rangers boss, McLeish helped Hutton return from a double leg break - a similar injury to the one Eduardo suffered at St Andrews last week.

Hutton then impressed under McLeish for Rangers and Scotland, his performances catching the eye of the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Spurs sporting director Damien Comolli.

This season he was part of Scotland's famous victory over France then put in a man-of-the-match performance in the heartbreaking defeat to Italy last November, cruelly getting penalised at the death for the free-kick leading to the winner.

Spurs bid for him in January and after initially delaying the deal to consider the impact of the move for his young family, he then made his move south.

"It's such a massive media presence for people all around the world, everyone wants to play here because it's such a good league," he said.

"I'm here getting tested week-in week-out, no matter who you play. Top internationals are playing for every team. That's one of the main reasons for playing here.

"I wanted to come down and test myself against these players and make myself a better player. Playing against players like that, you're obviously going to make yourself a better player yourself."

In his third match for Spurs he was part of the Carling Cup victory over Chelsea last week, sparking celebrations long into the night at an Essex nightclub.

"The missus was saying that had better not be happening every week," Hutton said.

He now faces McLeish at St Andrews and is determined to put one over his former boss, despite their history together for Rangers and Scotland.

"It's a different matter now," Hutton added. "It'll be the first time I've actually been in a team playing against him so it'll be a wee bit different but hopefully we can get the victory."

Spurs centre-back Jonathan Woodgate is a doubt for the clash at St Andrews after picking up a sprained ankle in the Carling Cup final.

Skipper Ledley King is expected to be rested, while left-backs Benoit Assou-Ekotto (knee) and Gareth Bale (foot) have been ruled out for the season.

Defenders Michael Dawson (hamstring) and Gilberto (calf) are edging closer to full training.

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