LONDON, Sept 27: Kanu is hoping for a first start for Portsmouth this season in Sunday’s Premier League clash with Tottenham and the Nigerian playmaker believes he can help the club bounce back from what has been a traumatic week for Harry Redknapp’s squad.

Hammered 6-0 at Manchester City on Sunday, Pompey were on the receiving end of a 4-0 whopping from Chelsea in front of their own supporters in the League Cup in midweek.

A rare plus from that performance was Kanu’s appearance for the final 20 minutes following his recovery from a thigh problem that has kept him sidelined since he featured in a pre-season friendly against Kano Pillars in Abuja.

The Nigerian admitted that the scale of the defeats had been tough to digest but insisted that the mood in the camp was far from demoralised.

He said: “The gaffer has told us what he wants, and it is down to us to implement it.

“The spirit in the dressing-room is good and we’re talking to each other, wanting to find a solution. We want to give the fans something back. We don’t want them to lose confidence in us.

“I believe on Sunday it’s going to be a good show and we’re going to win because everyone is fed up with what is going on. Fitness wise I feel I’m up there again, so I hope I will be involved — as an ex-Arsenal player, I love playing against Tottenham!”

The visit of Tottenham brings England forward Jermain Defoe up against his former club, nine months after he left White Hart Lane in search of regular first team football.

Ironically, the summer departures of Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane mean Defoe might have found himself as a regular partner for Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko had he stayed in north London.

Pavlyuchenko opened his Spurs account with a goal in the 2-1 League Cup win over Newcastle in midweek but manager Juande Ramos admits the Russian needs time to adapt to a new club, city and language, time which is in scarce supply for a club marooned at the bottom of the league.

“We are playing every three or four days against new teams,” Ramos said.

“It is impossible to think about other teams. I have a lot of work and I only think about Spurs. The situation for us is very difficult.

“Reality is that we are bottom. Maybe in one month we will have moved up a little, in three months maybe more. It is little by little and I am looking in the short term.

“It’s very clear. We have had big changes, new players, new positions — all the players need adaptation. We need passion and we need to work very hard, this is what we need.”—AFP