Tottenham make the journey to the North East without several first-team players
Tottenham will be without NINE first-team players for Wednesday night's Carabao Cup tie against Newcastle United at St James' Park, leaving manager Thomas Frank with a rotation headache.
While Eddie Howe will be without Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall and Yoane Wissa - with Sven Botman also a doubt - new Spurs boss Frank must decide how many of his squad he can afford to rotate.
Defender Micky van de Ven, who scored twice in a 3-0 win over Everton on Sunday is expected to be rested, but Frank is relishing the challenge of facing Newcastle.
"That's the challenge," he said. "It's one game so there's more at stake. I changed four from Monaco to Everton and three before that.
"Of course there'll be rotation, playing every third or fourth day. If you want to compete over 60 games, you can't play the same XI. So there's a fine balance.
"That's one of the beauties of being Head Coach, that's all part of the good fun."
Captain Cristian Romero will miss the game with a groun problem, although he could be back in action in the Premier League soon.
Frank said of his skipper: “Cuti was just out running on the grass with the performance guys. So, positive, progressing, but no time frame. I don't expect it to be a longer one.”
Fellow defender Destiny Udogie is also ruled out with a knee problem, while Swedish winger Dejan Kulusevski also misses the gam with a knee injury.
Striker Dominic Solanke (ankle) is still not ready to return to action, while Welsh defender Ben Davies is out after picking up up a thigh problem on international with Wales earlier this month.
Long-term absentee James Maddison continues his recovery from ACL surgery, with the England playmaker expected to be out for several months.
Another defender sidelines is Radu Dragusin, with the Romanian close to a return, but probably not risked for the game at St James' Park.