Tottenham Hotspur face another extended spell without Cristian Romero following the captain's red card in the 2-0 defeat by Manchester United on Saturday.
The centre back was sent off for a high challenge on Casemiro with the score 0-0 at Old Trafford and will miss the next four games, after his three-match ban for serious foul play was upgraded by one because it was his second red card of the Premier League season.
It means Romero will miss Tottenham's home game against Newcastle United, as well as the north London derby with Arsenal, a trip to Fulham and the visit of Crystal Palace in the coming weeks.
Worrying Cristian Romero stat will give Thomas Frank cause for concern
Romero's disciplinary record is not pretty, with the Argentina defender racking up nine bookings and two red cards across all competitions for his club this season, and six dismissals in total since joining Spurs in 2021.
Manager Thomas Frank has defended the 27-year-old, but admitted ahead of the clash with Newcastle: "When you have a player playing with so much passion and aggression, sometimes, things like that can happen. That's not to say he should not learn from it. Of course he needs to learn from it going forward."
Frank has good reason not to hang his skipper out to dry, particularly with Spurs currently without a win in seven matches in the Premier League, which has left them 15th in the table.
Tottenham have underperformed domestically again this season after last term's 17th-place finish and their record when Romero doesn't play makes for grim reading.
Spurs have won just three of the nine matches in 2025/26 in which their captain wasn't involved: a 3-0 victory against League One Doncaster Rovers in the Carabao Cup, plus away triumphs at Everton and Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
They have drawn two and lost four of the other six games, which will give Frank extra cause for concern ahead of a crucial run of fixtures.
Tottenham's poor form has left them just six points above the Premier League relegation zone, after the teams immediately below them picked up crucial wins in recent weeks.
If Spurs don't start to turn their fortunes around soon, that gap will narrow even further and the club could be facing a shock relegation to the Championship.
Frank is under serious pressure and will need as many key players fit as possible, so losing Romero for four games is a problem he could certainly do without.
And Spurs will have to improve their record without their captain in the coming weeks if they are to pull away from danger.