Tottenham Hotspur enter the private domain of Juande Ramos, their head coach, this evening: the Uefa Cup. The Spaniard has won the competition in the past two years with Seville, his former club. Yet it is the Carling Cup, more specifically the final against Chelsea a week on Sunday, that lurks in their minds. And, even more specifically, the fitness of Ledley King, the Tottenham captain, and Michael Dawson, his centre-back partner.

Ramos might have preferred to concentrate yesterday on the first leg of their round-of-32 tie against Slavia Prague here this evening – the return leg is a week today – but it was the medical updates on King and Dawson that proved a recurring theme. And it is not looking good.

On King, who has a persistent knee problem, Ramos said: “The final is ten days away and that is quite a lot of time. I cannot decide now. The good news is that he is with the team and we will decide when the moment comes.” On Dawson, who has a hamstring tear, Ramos said: “He is not in the lineup here and we will have to wait to see if he will be OK [for the Carling Cup final]. At the moment, it is difficult to say.”

The good news about King may be that he is with the team in Prague, but the bad news is that he will not play. As the temperature dropped markedly last night and his teammates trained in the cold of the Strahov Stadium, he continued with his specially prepared schedule in a warm gym.

Good health clearly concerned Marcos Alvarez, the new fitness coach, when he joined Tottenham, with Ramos, from Seville in October. “When we arrived, we realised straight away that the team was carrying excess baggage,” Alvarez said. “Taking into account the size of the players, the team was basically 100 kilos over [weight]. The first buffet I saw, I took photographs of it because it was very interesting. Lots of sauces, cakes, chocolate muffins, a box of sweets. So we set the wheels in motion to change things. They have now lost between 40 and 50 kilos.”

Slavia and Tottenham met last season in the qualifying round of the same competition, with the latter going through courtesy of 1-0 victories in each leg. Radek Cerny, the Tottenham and former Slavia goalkeeper, did not feature in the matches, but with Paul Robinson out of favour, he will play tonight.

In a role reversal, it is Robinson, not Cerny, who will be on the bench, with Tomas Pekhart, a Tottenham reserve striker formerly of Slavia, giving a brief insight into Robinson’s possible state of mind. “Robinson gives the impression of being a very angry man,” Pekhart said. “When Ramos put him on the bench, against Arsenal, the first time, he did not go to the warm-up. That made the coach even more annoyed. Ramos is very strict about discipline. No one has dared to challenge him.”

Cerny attempted to skirt around the issue. “I am just glad to be playing a lot,” he said.

Tottenham will need to play a lot this evening. To exit the Uefa Cup – Ramos’s personal fiefdom – would not be ideal preparation for the trip to Wembley.

Slavia Prague (possible; 4-2-3-1): M Vaniak – F Drizdal, E Brabec, M Latka, D Hubacek – M Suchy, M Tavares – M Jarolim, J Cerny, D Pudil – Z Senkerik.

Tottenham Hotspur (possible; 4-4-2): R Cerny – P Chimbonda, J Woodgate, Y Kaboul, Lee Young Pyo – A Lennon, J Jenas, T Huddlestone, S Malbranque – R Keane, D Berbatov.

Referee: C Circhetta (Switzerland).

Television: Live coverage on Five (8pm kick-off).