Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou will be down to the bare bones in defence ahead of their EFL Cup semi-final first leg with Liverpool on Wednesday.
Spurs have been playing with a makeshift back four for several weeks now, due to recurring injuries to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, but the crisis has hit new levels over the past week.
Ben Davies has also missed the last few weeks, and he was joined on the sidelines by Destiny Udogie, who will be absent for the next six weeks due to a hamstring issue of his own.
Not only that, but illness hit the Spurs camp ahead of their clash with Newcastle United at the weekend, ruling backup goalkeeper Fraser Forster out, and forcing Radu Dragusin to be withdrawn early on Saturday as he was struggling with the aftereffects.
Archie Gray was also struck down prior to the game, but managed to soldier on for 90 minutes, playing alongside Djed Spence as two makeshift central defenders in the second half.
The absence of Forster, who is deputising for the injured Guglielmo Vicario, has been alleviated in the week though, as Spurs announced the signing of Czech keeper Antonin Kinsky from Slavia Prague, a 21-year-old who has already been part of the senior Czechia national side.
Injury and illness issues continue further forward too, but Richarlison and Mikey Moore are both expected to return in the next week or so, while Wilson Odobert continues to recover from hamstring surgery.
One positive will be the return of Rodrigo Bentancur, who scored and was booked in just his second game back after a seven-match ban against Wolves, triggering another suspension, which he served against Newcastle on Saturday, but midfield duo James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr will serve EFL Cup serve bans here after being booked in the previous round.
Postecoglou rather surprisingly left Son Heung-min and Yves Bissouma all on the bench at the weekend, despite their limited numbers across the pitch, and all both are in contention to return.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Kinsky; Pedro Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Bissouma, Bentancur, Kulusevski; Johnson, Solanke, Son
Click here to see how Liverpool could line up for Wednesday's semi-final.
Andrew Delaney
