Rafael van der Vaart close to league comeback

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has a chance of featuring against Aston Villa on Monday.

The Dutch international suffered a hamstring injury on international duty playing against Switzerland last Friday.

"Rafa trained on Wednesday and, from what the medical team are saying, he's at 75%," Spurs coach Joe Jordan told the club's official website.

"That's good, but we have to get him from 75% to 100%, we'll have to take it day-to-day and we do have a few days with the game on Monday.

"He's got a chance, but it is important that there is no recurrence of the injury."

The Premier League clash takes place at White Hart Lane on Monday evening.