Antonio Conte was once again without a couple of his key players on Sunday as Tottenham crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Wolves.
Making a total of three changes to his team from the midweek defeat against Southampton, Matt Doherty, Ryan Sessegnon and Rodrigo Bentancur all came into the XI as Emerson Royal, Sergio Reguilon and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made way.
Conte's decision to drop the Dane was certainly a big one as Hojbjerg missed out on selection in the league for the first time in his Tottenham career when he has been available.
As Eric Dier and Oliver Skipp were not available again due to thigh and groin injuries respectively, the spine of the Tottenham side looked slightly different to the one Conte usually fields.
Dier has been a huge miss at the back in the past two games with the Lilywhites just not having that commanding voice there to help guide them over the course of the 90 minutes.
Despite his tender years having only just turned 21 back in September, Skipp has already made himself a key figure in the team following his Norwich City loan spell and it is extremely noticeable when he doesn't play.
That was very much the case against Arsenal and Chelsea in September, with last week's defeats against Southampton and Wolves proving that very point.
Conte's need to have the England Under-21 international back in his team was clear to see ahead of the Southampton encounter as he did indicate in his pre-match press conference that he is pushing his medical department to have his player back sooner than expected.
"Honestly I hope to have him back very soon," said the Italian. "The medical department said to me two weeks but I hope to have him available in one week or 10 days maximum.
"For this reason I try to push my medical department because we need Skipp to be available. We’re talking about a good and important player for Tottenham."
Not long after the 2-0 loss against Wolves, Tottenham's numbers with and without Skipp in the Premier League this season started to do the rounds on social media and they were rather telling.
Winning ten, drawing one and losing three of the 14 Premier League games he has started this term, Spurs have only one won, drawn two and lost five when he hasn't started.
As vital as Skipp is to Tottenham's midfield and the team overall, it is also worth noting that Dier and Hojbjerg are in the same boat as the Spurs youngster in terms of their importance to the side.
As highlighted on Match of the Day 2, Tottenham have not conceded a single goal in five games when the trio have all started in the Premier League for Conte.
On the other hand, the team have conceded 13 times from seven games when they have not all started.
Leaking goals for fun in the past with the defence just not having any protection in front of them, Skipp and Hojbjerg do give the backline a formidable shield due to their excellent work in the middle of the park.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min's importance to the team has been made clear countless times in the past but it does appear that Dier, Skipp and Hojbjerg are also vital to Tottenham ticking and are quite simply undroppables.
With Man City on the agenda this coming Saturday, Conte more than ever needs Dier and Skipp back to fitness and Hojbjerg back in his XI.
