TOTTENHAM will be without 13 first team players as they take on Borussia Dortmund tonight.
Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to West Ham left boss Thomas Frank clinging on to his job.
Following board meetings, the Spurs hierarchy opted to give Frank the Dortmund game.
But with so many first teamers missing, the Dane faces an incredible uphill battle to get a positive result.
The North Londoners have seven regulars out injured.
James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski have been missing all season due to respective knee injuries.
Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur both recently joined the injury list with hamstring issues.
While Mohammed Kudus suffered a thigh injury early on in the 1-1 draw with Sunderland earlier this month.
And Ben Davies suffered a nasty ankle fracture against West Ham.
Spurs’ botched Champions League squad also leaves them with four players ineligible, despite being fit.
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New signing Conor Gallagher featured in the Champions League for Atletico Madrid earlier this season and couldn’t have been selected.
But Yves Bissouma, Mathys Tel and Radu Dragusin will also be left kicking their heels on the sideline.
Champions League rules dictate that four players in each club’s 25-man squad must be considered club trained.
To be “club trained”, a player must have spent three full seasons with the club between the ages of 15 and 21.
Spurs only have two players that meet this criteria, Dane Scarlett and Brandon Austin, meaning that their squad size had to be reduced to 23.
Earlier in the season, this led to Mathys Tel being left out of the squad, much to his dismay.
Tel, 20, came in to replace injured Dominic Solanke for last month’s 3-0 victory over Sparta Prague.
But with Solanke fit again, Tel has again dropped out.
Speaking ahead of the match, Frank revealed that Tel would have started tonight, had he been available.
The 52-year-old said: “Yeah, I made the decision. That was not a nice decision to have to make. Unfortunately, that’s football so you have to make a decision.
“And the way the rules are, the only option was either Dom or Mathys in the squad and I chose Dom because I think Mathys has done very well the last couple of games and that’s the crazy thing – if I could pick from all the players who are fit, he would start tomorrow.
“But I can only pick between the two of them and now he’s out of the squad. So that’s of course a tough one to take from Mathys.”
Dragusin returned from an ACL injury last month and has since made one brief cameo from the bench.
Bissouma, meanwhile, began the season out of favour but made his first appearance of the campaign as a half-time substitute on Saturday after returning from Afcon.
The Malian replaced Archie Gray, who went off with a knock.
Despite being a doubt for the match, it appears that the former Leeds midfielder will attempt to tough it out against Dortmund.
Xavi Simons also suffered a knock against the Hammers, but is set to play through the pain barrier this evening.
The Dutchman, 22, said: “Everyone wants to win, not only the coach but the players as well. We want to change this, especially me, I’m a guy willing to give everything to win.
“Obviously, if I had really, really, really pain, then I wouldn’t play, but it’s now a situation that I can handle myself as well, even though I have a little bit of pain. I want to play the game, I want to help the team.”
Gray, Simons and Lucas Bergvall are the only regulars in midfield that are available, with Pape Matar Sarr having been away at Afcon with victorious Senegal until Sunday evening.
Sarr missed the final through illness and it remains to be seen whether he will be able to return to Spurs contention for Saturday’s trip to Burnley.
Kevin Danso will have to deputise for Micky van de Ven alongside Cristian Romero at the back – the Dutchman suspended after picking up a booking against Sparta last time out.
Guglielmo Vicario will continue in goal, with Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie likely to start as the full-backs – although Djed Spence is available.
Danso and Romero will partner up at centre-back, with Gray, Bergvall and Simons ahead of them.
Randal Kolo Muani is likely to play on the right flank, and Wilson Odobert on the left.
Solanke could make his first start of the season up front, with only Scarlett to deputise for him.
Several youngsters will be on the bench looking to get on for a Champions League debut.
Luca Williams-Barnett, who featured against Doncaster in the League Cup earlier this term, could make an impact on the wing.
While Tynan Thompson and Callum Olusesi are also highly-thought of.
Olusesi, 18, was handed a senior debut against Hoffenheim 12 months ago and earned a Europa League winners medal in Bilbao.
On Spurs’ youngsters, Simons added: “Yeah, I would say even me, I’m still young, but you can see the younger guys coming up and training every day with us.
“The excitement that they have and the willingness to play the game is immense, but I would say obviously we have to do our job and at the end, if one of them comes onto the pitch, it will be no age, no young guys, it will be football. And I think they are all ready, so that’s something nice.”