PAUL Telfer appears to be the front-runner among the possible candidates to replace suspended David Prutton.

The midfield has picked itself in recent games with Graeme Le Saux, Nigel Quashie and Jamie Redknapp lining up alongside Prutton.

Manager Harry Redknapp is unlikely to want to completely re-organise things so will almost certainly be looking for a straight swap on the right of midfield.

Mikael Nilsson was given that job against Brentford in the 3-1 FA Cup win, but struggled.

Telfer, though, was excellent in the centre of midfield and has played much of his career on the right of midfield.

Other options are Anders Svensson or Henri Camara, who could be given a roaming role wide on the right with Kevin Phillips and Peter Crouch up front.

Redknapp said: "Paul Telfer did ever so well on Tuesday, I was pleased with him. Telfs can play wide right and he will never let you down.

"Right midfield is a position we can fill, I've got several options and I'll have a look at it and see if we can come up with the right one.

"I could play Camara wide right and Phillips and Crouch up front. I'll have a look at that one. He (Camara) could come in but you can lose your shape because he will run all over the pitch."

Elsewhere, Antti Niemi is not ready to return from his knee injury, meaning Paul Smith will continue in goal, while Calum Davenport, who is on-loan from Tottenham, is unavailable to play against his parent club.

Redknapp said: "Antti is still not quite right, it's been a bit slower than we expected, we hope Antti will be back next week.

"But other than that we are okay. We look strong, Graeme Le Saux gives us balance and we've got Crouch, Phillips and Camara so it's a good position to be in."

Redknapp is set to again partner Andreas Jakobsson and Claus Lundekvam in central defence and is satisfied the team has looked more solid in recent weeks.

He said: "We look quite solid and we look quite dangerous going forward. We've got ten league games left and they are all massive games."

The Saints boss, though, is well aware of the dangers Tottenham possess in attack.

He added: "They have got lots of options, they have got four top strikers. Keane, Kanoute, Mido and Defoe.

"Defoe is a goalscoring machine.

"And Martin Jol has done terrific as well."