Ange Postecoglou needs to get a positive result against Elfsborg not only to get back to winning ways but also for Tottenham to avoid an unwanted extra couple of Europa League fixtures.
Spurs are already through to the knockout stages of the competition but if they remain in the top eight with a victory, or potentially a draw, against their Swedish visitors at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium then they will bypass the play-off round, which brings two fixtures next month, and head straight into the round of 16 in March.
With Spurs' threadbare squad, to have two free midweeks in February could be crucial for Postecoglou to get his players recovered and ready to face Manchester United and Ipswich in consecutive weekends around when those play-off games would have been.
Long term absentee Wilson Odobert was not involved in training on Wednesday and neither were Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson, although football.london understands the latter will be back soon.
James Maddison however is out for up to three weeks, Guglielmo Vicario is back training but not ready yet while Djed Spence, Antonin Kinsky and Sergio Reguilon are not registered for the Europa League. Cristian Romero could be seen training in the gym but is not available yet. Micky van de Ven is back though and available after training for 10 days.
Here's the Tottenham team we reckon Postecoglou could select to face Elfsborg.