Injury-hit Tottenham face losing centre-back Cristian Romero for up to five weeks with a hamstring strain, says manager Ange Postecoglou.
Defenders Micky van de Ven and Ryan Sessegnon are also out injured, while full-back Destiny Udogie is suspended for Thursday’s match at Brighton.
“[It’s] disappointing to lose [Romero], for sure,” said Postecoglou.
“He had a scan the other day and has got a hamstring strain. We are looking at probably four or five weeks for him.”
World Cup winner Romero missed three matches through suspension in November and December after being sent off in Tottenham’s 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea.
They picked up just one point in the centre-half’s absence and lost to West Ham on his return, but have since won their past three matches.
Spurs are fourth in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Liverpool, who have played one game more.
“We obviously missed him with the suspension and now we’ve just got him back and he steadied things up,” Postecoglou said.
“Now he will be missing again for quite a chunk of time.”
Netherlands defender Van de Ven had built up a promising partnership with Romero before he injured his hamstring against Chelsea in November.
Postecoglou says Van de Ven is “getting closer” to a return to first-team training, but believes the 22-year-old centre-back will not be ready until the Premier League match at Manchester United on 14 January.
“He is at the tail end of it, for sure,” added Postecoglou. “At some point, middle of January, he could be available, but how we use him after such a long absence will be depending on where he is at.”
‘I’d love to do something early in the window’
Postecoglou has spoken about wanting to sign a new centre-back in January and is hoping Spurs can move quickly in the January transfer window to meet his aim.
“Obviously if we can do business early, it’s great for us,” he said. “Not just because of losing Romero but there’s a whole month there – why waste it?
“If you can bring them in early, even if they don’t play you can bed them into training and our style of football because it’s not like we’re going to sign somebody and they’ll hit the ground running.
“Whereas if you leave it towards the end of January, it’s potentially not until mid to end of February when they get up to speed, depending where they’re coming from, the league they’re coming from, so there’s a whole lot of moving parts.
“So, yes, I’d love to do something early in the window but even me saying that puts a challenge on us, because other clubs know we want to do something early.
“You’ve got to play the game, we’ll see what happens but I’m hopeful it will be much earlier than the end of the window before we bring someone in.”
Spurs play at Brighton on 28 December and host Bournemouth on 31 December and, going into their final two games of the year, Postecoglou has been impressed with how his players have coped with the club’s injury issues.
“We’ve been going through it for quite a while to be fair but I really like the attitude everyone’s taking internally – the coaches and players,” he added.
“We’ve still been disappointed with our losses, still been disappointed if we’re not playing our football, that’s the most important thing.
“I’m sure there will come a point when we will be much healthier in terms of our playing stocks, but I like the fact we’re winning games and playing decent football without some of those players.”
