Ange Postecoglou has addressed concerns surrounding Radu Dragusin after the defender was forced off before the end of Tottenham's 1-0 Boxing Day defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Anthony Elanga poked past Fraser Forster in the 28th minute to secure another impressive win for the Tricky Trees, which consigned Spurs to the bottom-half of the Premier League table.
Postecoglou has been grappling with a host of injury issues in recent weeks, with his starting central-defensive pairing of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero both on the sidelines. Teenage prospect Archie Gray started alongside Dragusin at The City Ground, and the north Londoners could be stretched even thinner when they host Wolves on December 29.
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Right-back Djed Spence will be handed a one-match ban after getting two second-half bookings against his former club Forest. And Dragusin may also miss out after asking to come off in the game's dying embers.
Spurs are already down to the bare bones in defence and under-pressure Postecoglou would face an even trickier task to turn results around if the Romanian centre-back is ruled out over the coming weeks.
The Tottenham boss has suggested that Dragusin will need assessing after coming down with an ankle problem. "He was a bit sore," explained the Aussie in his post-match press conference. "He hurt his ankle and said he couldn’t continue so we'll just have to wait and see."
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is expected to be out until March, while versatile defender Ben Davies is not yet ready to return. Postecoglou will be desperate to welcome Van de Ven and Romero back into the fold as doubts begin to creep in over his managerial future.
Spurs' attacking style of play has seen them ship four goals at home to Chelsea, three at home to Manchester United and six at home to Liverpool since the start of the month. But Postecoglou wants his injury-hit squad to be cut some slack.
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"We're asking a lot of this group of players," he said. "A lot of these guys are playing every three days. It's only logical they are not going to be at their sharpest but they are trying and that's all I can ask of them.
"The boys worked hard [against Forest] and we tried to generate as many opportunities as we could considering the context of the game and how Forest play, but we just couldn't get over the top of them."
