Mousa Dembele out of London derby

Tottenham Hotspur's Mousa Dembele has been ruled out of Saturday's north London derby with Arsenal.

The Belgian playmaker has missed Spurs's last eight game with a hip problem and manager Andre Villas-Boas ruled him out on Thursday.

"Dembele does not have a chance, not for this game," Villas-Boas said.

"There is a 50 percent chance he will be back for the Lazio game.

"I think surgery at the moment is out of the question, hopefully."

Jermain Defoe, Aaron Lennon and Kyle Walker all suffered hamstring injuries during last weekend's 2-1 defeat by Manchester City.

"They haven't trained with the team yet. They have had lighter sessions on their own," Villas-Boas said of the trio.

"We will have to see today (Thursday) how they return to see if there's any disturbance. Lennon had a scan yesterday (Wednesday), and it's fine on his hamstring," the Portuguese boss added.

Villas-Boas is already without long-term absentees Scott Parker, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul.