Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou is taking no chances with Cristian Romero's return to fitness. Spurs, fresh from a 4-0 thrashing of Manchester City, were held to a 2-2 draw by Roma in the Europa League on Thursday, with Mats Hummels netting a last-gasp equaliser for the visitors.
Despite making minimal changes from the team that excelled at City, Postecoglou was forced to bring in Fraser Forster in goal due to Guglielmo Vicario's ankle surgery.
Romero, who has been sidelined with a toe injury and had to cut short his time with Argentina, missed both the City clash and the European game.
Tottenham are also without Micky van de Ven, Wilson Odobert, and Richarlison through injuries, while Rodrigo Bentancur is out with a suspension over a racist remark made about team-mate Son Heung-min.
Ahead of Sunday's match against Fulham, Postecoglou remains hopeful yet cautious about Romero's availability.
"Romero is closer (to returning), he is probably the closest," the Spurs boss stated in a press conference. "He is probably unlikely (to be involved against Fulham), but I am not ruling him out. He has still got to get through some things today and the session tomorrow."
Postecoglou has affirmed that, following the Roma draw, there appears to be no extra injury concerns, jokingly adding: "From last night, at this stage, it is a clean bill of health – mind you, I thought that last week and then I had a guy (Vicario) in surgery an hour later.
With Spurs currently occupying ninth place in the Europa League table, he remains committed to his team's attacking style of play, despite the risks.
"There is plenty of room for pragmatism in walks of life and in football as well – but I am just not interested in it," said the ex-Australia and Celtic manager.
He firmly rejects the notion of compromising his tactics: "I don’t know why I need to change my approach to be like everyone else wants me to be.
"I will continue to push this team to be a bit different, to play football in a different way – and maybe when I am long gone you will all pine for my entertainment, and you will have had your fill of pragmatism.
"We haven’t achieved anything yet – we haven’t had success, we haven’t done all the things we want to do, so if I start being pragmatic now, then maybe we will never get there."
Reflecting on their midweek continental performance, he added: "I loved our last 20 minutes of the first half. We should have got a third goal that would have killed the game off, but we were exciting to watch – and that’s what I want."