Ledley King is expected to travel to Poland for the Uefa Cup match against Wisla Krakow and help Juande Ramos turn around Tottenham Hotspur's disastrous start to the campaign.

The centre-half has featured in Tottenham's two wins this season but his recovery from knee surgery has prevented him from playing twice in quick succession and he was rested for the defeat to Portsmouth at the weekend.

Ramos will have 19 senior players to fill his 18-man matchday squad as his team look to protect their 2-1 lead from the first leg. "[Roman] Pavlyuchenko and [Vedran] Corluka can't play in Europe, Ledley King can't play in every match, Gareth Bale is injured, we have small injuries each week and I need to change three or four players every match," the Tottenham manager said.

King has endured two years of injury problems but has been involved in Tottenham's significant wins during that time, including the Carling Cup win against Chelsea in February. The 27-year-old used the final two months of last season to concentrate on rehabilitation, during which time his team-mates mustered just two Premier League wins. He spent time recovering in Barcelona to get himself right for the new season, although he is still used sparingly by Ramos, who admits the injury has to be monitored after each appearance.

At stake in Krakow is a place in the Uefa Cup group stages which guarantees four more European matches.