Sunday can't come soon enough, with Tottenham Hotspur set to get underway under yet another new manager, as Roberto De Zerbi faces his first game in charge away at Sunderland.
Spurs are unbeaten in their last 15 Premier League matches against the Black Cats, although the north Londoners are a wounded beast these days, so devoid of confidence after a season of chaos at N17.
Seven games into the 2025/26 campaign, for context, the Lilywhites were sitting pretty in third on 14 points, just two points behind leaders Arsenal.
With seven games remaining, the gap to the Gunners stands at 40 points, with De Zerbi inheriting a side languishing just above the drop zone in 17th.
A quick fix is needed, and none more so than in the midfield unit...
Why De Zerbi has to find a midfield solution, and fast, at Spurs
In the view of Sky Sports reporter Lyall Thomas, the "biggest problem" at the club this season has been the midfield, with recruitment in that department a particular issue in recent times.
Not since Mousa Dembele's exit in January 2019 have Spurs truly had a powerhouse figure in the centre of the park, enduring the particularly uninspiring pairing of Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg under the likes of Antonio Conte.
With De Zerbi now at the helm, those brought into the club of late will be under scrutiny, with it difficult to see on-loan Bayern Munich man, Joao Palhinha, offering the ball-playing, progressive quality that the Italian is after.
That, more concerningly, could also be an issue for £34m January arrival, Conor Gallagher, with the 26-year-old recording just an 80% pass accuracy rate on average in the Premier League this season, losing the ball 9.3 times per game from his midfield berth.
From the days of seeing the technical genius of Dembele or a young Luka Modric shine through, Tottenham have taken a real backward step in that regard, leaving De Zerbi with a real headache to solve as he seeks to find his next Moises Caicedo or Alexis Mac Allister at N17.
Under his predecessor, Igor Tudor, a youthful pairing of Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray had become the preferred pick across the last five games, yet the new boss could settle on a new Dembele or Modric-style axis instead.
De Zerbi could now unleash the new Dembele and Modric
Up against a Black Cats side boasting arguably the signing of the season in the Premier League, Granit Xhaka, De Zerbi can't afford to get it wrong for his first game in charge this weekend.
First impressions mean everything, with the 46-year-old likely to endear himself swiftly if he is to unleash perhaps the two most exciting midfielders on the books at Spurs, in the form of Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
As noted above, the former has been a mainstay of the side in recent weeks under Tudor, looking particularly impressive in the solitary win of the Croatian's time at the helm against Atletico Madrid.
That outing saw the 20-year-old Englishman hailed as a "young Declan Rice" by The Athletic's Duncan Alexander, with there certainly having been a Rice or even Dembele quality to his all-action display.
The manner in which the ex-Leeds United starlet can cover ground and carry the ball forward from deep is very much akin to the Belgian in his pomp, even while not possessing that powerhouse physicality.
That's not to say he is easy to bypass defensively, having been dribbled past just 0.07 times per game all season in the Premier League, ranking in the top 2.4% in that regard.
Gray can offer the stable defensive base, in the mould of Dembele, while Bergvall could be the more attack-minded, creative presence alongside him, with his quality on the ball previously described as "like Modric" by The Athletic's JJ Bull.
Still only 20 himself, the elegant Swede has endured an injury-hit campaign in north London, although his ability is not in question, notably ranking in the top 1.6% for successful dribbles in the top-flight.
Journalist Alasdair Gold has also pointed to the way he 'uses his body' as further evidence to the view that he is like a 'young Luka Modric', with there certainly a real silk to his game in that number eight or number ten berth.
The aforementioned Sarr has been ahead in the pecking order of late, yet the arrival of a new, forward-thinking coach could finally see Gray and Bergvall establish a settled partnership in the centre of the park.
While Dembele and Modric's paths might not have crossed in north London, their potential successors could now form a fearsome pairing under De Zerbi's watch.