The striker was stretchered from the field in the recent 2-1 win over Manchester United but insists he is ready to start against his former side

Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood has revealed Emmanuel Adebayor is ready to lead the line against former club Arsenal on Saturday.

The striker was forced off through injury after scoring the opener in the 2-1 New Year’s Day win at Manchester United – but is ready to face the Gunners in the FA Cup.

“I spoke to Ade and he said he cramped up in all areas, but thankfully it has settled down and he’s ready to perform,” Sherwood told reporters.

Erik Lamela (thigh), Kyle Naughton (ankle and hamstring), Paulinho, Jan Vertonghen (both ankle) and Gylfi Sigurdsson (calf) will miss the third-round clash, but Jermain Defoe, Andros Townsend and Lewis Holtby are in contention.

“It’s the biggest game for any Tottenham person, and the manager particularly,” Sherwood continued. “We would love to play a lower league team, but it’s Arsenal at the Emirates and we can’t wait.

“It’s a huge competition. It would be fantastic to take Tottenham to the final. It would be the pinnacle of my short managerial career if we went to the Emirates and won and stayed in the hat.

“We’ll try to get our offensive players on the ball as much as we can and we feel we can cause them some problems.”

Sherwood refused to be drawn on reports linking Tottenham with a move for Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott.

“I’m not looking for any players at moment, I’m just looking to clear that treatment room and assess it once we’ve got players back,” he explained.

“[Lescott] is a good player, isn’t he? There are a lot of good players at a lot of different clubs and, at the moment, he’s at Manchester City so I can’t comment on that.”