While Ange Postecoglou could welcome back three Tottenham players against Manchester United on Sunday, Ruben Amorim looks set to be without three of his own. Spurs have been plagued by injuries this season, but it is their weekend opponents now facing a crisis.
Just eight senior players could be absent for the visit of United with Postecoglou revealing a triple injury return may arrive: "Some of the lads who have been out for quite a while look like they’re in a good place now, Vic [Guglielmo Vicario] is probably the one who has come back ahead of schedule," he told Tottenham's official website.
"He’s been training really well away from the team for two weeks. In the last 10 days he’s integrated back into the team and is fully into training, so he’s in a good place and that means he becomes available for us.”
He added: "Madders is a little bit ahead of schedule (in his recovery). He’s feeling really good. He’s had a good week of training. We were thinking maybe (it'll be) next week for him, but he’s trained really well all week, and he’s had the least amount of time out, so he’s looking in a good place.
"Of the longer-term (injuries), Destiny is back in team training as well, which is good. He’s ticked all the boxes in terms of getting through his rehab and conditioning, so he’s part of the squad." Wilson Odobert, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner are back in training but remain out.
Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Radu Dragusin will be the others missing. As for United, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Lisandro Martinez are the marquee players missing while Altay Bayindir and Jonny Evans also dealing with issues.
However, their injury list could increase by three with the Athletic revealing Kobbie Mainoo is out because of injury while Toby Collyer and Manuel Ugarte are doubts to feature. Amorim admitted in his pre-match press conference that issues had emerged and he now faces a big dilemma in midfield.
If all three miss out, Bruno Fernandes will almost certainly play in midfield and likely be partnered by either Casemiro or former Tottenham star Christian Eriksen.