Jermain Defoe returned to action on Sunday as he scored the only goal against Watford to give his manager Andre Villas-Boas a timely reminder of his goal-scoring threat.

The England forward struggled to force his way into the starting line-up last season as Harry Redknapp preferred to use Emmanuel Adebayor as a lone striker with Rafael van der Vaart playing just behind him.

However, Villas-Boas is short of options after Louis Saha left in the summer and Adebayor returned to Manchester City at the end of his loan deal. Spurs have yet to secure the services of the former Arsenal striker and Defoe is now the only senior striker at the club.

Jermain Defoe
Jermain Defoe returned to action against Watford [Reuters]

Tottenham have been linked with a number of strikers since the end of the season, but one who will not be moving to White Hart Lane is Salomon Rondon. The 22-year-old had been monitored by the north London club but has now joined Rubin Kazan on a four-year deal.

There had been a belief that Tottenham would make an offer to the financially stricken Malaga, but an offer from Kazan was accepted and the South American will now be playing his club football in Russia.

Villas-Boas will still hope to secure the services of a forward before the season begins, however, he will have been happy to see Defoe get on the score sheet when playing against Watford in Lloyd Doyley's testimonial.

Tottenham have been forced to use youngster Harry Kane for much of pre-season, while Gylfi Sigurdsson and Gareth Bale have also been used as auxiliary forwards.

Defoe headed in the winner in the 55<sup>th minute and Villas-Boas admitted he was pleased with the performance of the former West Ham striker.

"A couple of lads did extremely well. Defoe put in a strong performance; Walker came on in the second half and improved the dynamic of the game. Vertonghen as well, on his build up play," Villas-Boas told the club's official website.

"Generally, I'm happy with everyone. Training has been intense and this was like another training session. Tomorrow (Monday) we go back to training again, everything's positive in that sense."

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