Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe is desperate to help the club reach Wembley.

Spurs face Manchester United in the Carling Cup quarterfinal and Defoe wants a chance to fire them into the semis.

He missed out on the club's Wembley win over Chelsea in 2008, having just left to join Portsmouth. And he was then cup-tied for Pompey's FA Cup final victory over Cardiff a few months later.

And having returned to Tottenham in January, he was sidelined for their Carling Cup final defeat by United a month later.

He said: "Hopefully, this time I'll be ready. It was a disappointment to miss those finals but for some reason I think this is my year.

"Maybe it was the way I worked in preseason. When I was on holiday I couldn't wait to get back and work.

"It's a World Cup year and you don't want to miss out again, so I did everything right."

Spurs have not won at Old Trafford since a 1-0 victory in the old First Division back in December 1989.

But Defoe has hit a winner there for West Ham and said: "It would be great to do it again."