NIGEL Reo-Coker is winning his battle for fitness ahead of tonight’s vital home tie with Spurs. The experienced midfielder, who has missed just one Premier League game this season, was forced out 12 minutes before the end of Wanderers’ 2-2 draw with Sunderland at the weekend.

It was feared the 27-year-old would fail to recover from a leg injury in time for Spurs’ visit to the Reebok, where victory would give the Whites a three-point lead over the bottom three with two games to play.

But it is understood he has responded to treatment and will anchor Owen Coyle’s midfield against Harry Redknapp’s Euro-chasers.

Teenage academy graduate Josh Vela is on standby after impressing in a substitute cameo at the Stadium of Light.

Darren Pratley’s season is in question, however, with the midfielder struggling to overcome a virus picked up before the home game against Swansea City.

Coyle described the illness as “like glandular fever”, but said the player had only completed a few sessions of light jogging in the last week.

Chris Eagles is another doubt for tonight’s game with a hamstring problem that has cropped up in his last two appearances.