Tottenham's injury crisis deepened after Ben Davies suffered a setback in training which could leave Ange Postecoglou without a good centre-back for Sunday's visit to Wolves.
Spurs were already without Cristiano Romero, Micky van de Ven and Davies for Thursday 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forestbut problems then worsened when Radu Dragusin limped off with a wrist problem.
Speaking of the need to tap into the January transfer market to alleviate some of the squad's long-standing problems, with up to nine players injured and Ded Spence now suspended after being sent off against Forest, Postecoglou said: “We have a fine line.
“There have always been problems at different times but not to this extent. I think we've almost consistently had 10 first-team players unavailable for a significant run of games. Definitely a first for me. We're in a tough spot and have been for a while.
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“We go through it for a long time and keep our fingers crossed that we don't have any more problems.
“(The transfer policy) can be disciplined but we need a clear picture of where we are. There is a need to step up if we can, it's not easy to do that in this window.
“The club is working hard behind the scenes to help the players we have, who give everything in every game to get us through.
Tottenham have up to nine first-team players unavailable for Sunday's clash with Wolves
“We have to help some of these guys because there are at least two or three who are feeling long-term injuries, so we will be short there. Others are coming back and need time to get up to speed. working hard to try to get reinforcements.”
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Asked if Yves Bissouma – who finished the Forest match at centre-back – could come in as an emergency defender against Wolves, he added: “Yves has never played there so I'm not sure why I would put him there. We'll see.”
Guglielmo Vicario, Van de Ven, Romero, Davies, Spence, Mikey Moore, Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are all confirmed absentees for Sunday's Premier League meeting.
Postecoglou added of Davies: “Unfortunately he had a setback in training so he will probably be out for a few weeks.”