Tottenham travel to Arsenal on Sunday facing their toughest challenge of the season so far, knowing a positive result could transform their campaign but fully aware that history is stacked firmly against them.
Thomas Frank takes charge of his first North London derby as Spurs manager, inheriting a team whose season has been defined by mixed fortunes.
Spurs sit fifth in the Premier League table and owe that to their extraordinary away form, averaging a competition-high 2.60 points per game, with four wins and a draw from their five matches on the road.
This remarkable record places them top of the Premier League away form table and represents a real bright spot in an otherwise inconsistent campaign. Since their opening day victory against Burnley, Spurs have lost three and drawn two at home, averaging just 0.83 points per game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season.
Tottenham shared the spoils in a thrilling 2-2 draw against Man United in their last outing, and boast impressive away stats with the joint-most goals scored (12) and the fewest conceded (three) on their travels.
The numbers suggest that when the Lilywhites play on enemy turf, they transform into a different proposition entirely. That being said, their record away to Arsenal is truly abysmal, having won just twice there in the league since the Premier League began.
The timing of this game could hardly be worse from an injury perspective either.
While star winger Mohammed Kudus should recover from a knock to face Arsenal, and Lucas Bergvall could be available after completing concussion protocols, we are still waiting for official confirmation on Randal Kolo Muani, Archie Gray, Ben Davies, Dejan Kulusevski, Dominic Solanke, Yves Bissouma and Kota Takai's availability.
James Maddison is a certainty to miss the clash, and likely won't return until June next year.
Tottenham are also waiting to discover whether Pape Sarr will be fine to play after he picked up a knock on international duty with Senegal, but apart from that incident, Frank will be relieved to come through the break fairly unscathed.
Rodrigo Bentancur gets 2/10 in 'nightmare' Uruguay performance after 5-1 USA defeat
However, another player who endured a non-ideal international break was midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.
Frank has been urged to ditch the defensive midfield partnership of Bentancur and summer signing Joao Palhinha, despite their exceptional performances individually.
The former was recently awarded a brand-new contract after his promising start to 2025/2026, but a slump in form for Bentancur appears to have come at the worst time.
Bentancur endured a nightmare in Uruguay's 5-1 defeat to the USA in Tampa, with South American news outlet El País handing him a lowly 2/10 rating for his performance, despite being given the captain's armband by Marcelo Bielsa.
El País states that the 28-year-old was overrun in midfield and could never get a foothold against Mauricio Pochettino's USA side, who eventually ran rampant on a real night to forget for him.
The former Juventus star was left out of Frank's starting eleven to face United in favour of Sarr, but given the African's knock against Brazil, Bentancur could well return to the line-up against Arsenal depending on developments.
Frank will be praying that Bentancur can put that Uruguay showing behind him and help to keep Arsenal at bay this Sunday.