Ange Postecoglou will be praying for some positive news on the injury front over the next couple of days. Tasting defeat on Thursday evening as Tottenham slumped to a hugely disappointing 1-0 loss at Bournemouth, the north London club return to action on Sunday with a London derby showdown against Chelsea.
At a time when Tottenham go into the game with a host of injuries and their form so inconsistent, Chelsea, on the other hand, are second in the Premier League table and scoring goals for fun. Enzo Maresca's team are oozing confidence right now and there is a possibility that they could even challenge the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City for the Premier League title if their current form continues to go from strength to strength.
Chelsea were 4-1 victors at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last November and Postecoglou's men need to try and right the wrongs of that defeat. Spurs look on course to go into this weekend's game with a real lack of options at centre-back, though.
Already without first-choice duo Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, Ben Davies was forced to make way on 62 minutes with what looked to be a hamstring injury. Spurs are already extremely short at centre-back as it is and the Welshman's injury raises some real questions ahead of Sunday's match.
"It looks like he's done his hamstring," said Postecoglou on Davies after the game. "Him and Radu have played every game. It's the one position we can't rotate. He'll obviously be out for a period of time now, we'll just have to wait and see how long it is. It's a consequence of having the squad we have at the moment."
Postecoglou's comments in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Bournemouth fixture would seem to suggest that the game will come too soon for Romero. Admitting that his last rehab sessions would be Wednesday and Thursday with a possible training return Friday, the boss also claimed that at the very latest the Argentine's comeback on the training pitch could be early next week.
If Romero is indeed to remain out and the same goes for Van de Ven, Postecoglou may have no option but to start Archie Gray at centre-back. The teenager is certainly no stranger to the position in a Tottenham shirt after making his first appearance for the club there against Hearts in July as the boss had no choice but to experiment.
Tottenham were short at centre-back then due to international football taking place in the summer and it resulted in a makeshift partnership of Gray and Oliver Skipp at the heart of defence. The Durham-born ace was to then pick up more experience there in the following friendlies against QPR and Vissel Kobe.
Gray has mainly featured as a full-back in his playing time this season but he did start the Europa League tie against Ferencvaros at centre-back alongside Romero. However, he would only be there for 45 minutes as he swapped positions with Davies at left-back for the second half of the contest.
Davies' early exit in Thursday's defeat at Bournemouth saw Gray move into the role once again as he partnered Radu Dragusin for what remained of the 1-0 defeat. On an evening when Gray made his first Premier League start for Tottenham, his second start could possibly come at centre-back against Chelsea on Sunday.
It's far from an ideal scenario for Postecoglou but he may have no option whatsoever but to start Gray alongside Dragusin. The hope will be that there is some positive news on the injury front regarding the two other injured centre-backs heading into the Chelsea fixture.
Gray certainly didn't look out of place in his game time against Bournemouth but it is going to be a different proposition altogether against Maresca's free-scoring Chelsea team. As was the case 12 months ago, Spurs have to somehow find a way through their upcoming games with a patched-up team before they can address the issues once the transfer market reopens.
January cannot come soon enough for Postecoglou and Tottenham.