Antonio Conte has limited midfield options when it comes to his Tottenham team for Saturday's FA Cup fourth round clash against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Missing Oliver Skipp through a groin injury, Spurs do have Rodrigo Bentancur available but the head coach confirmed to football.london at his pre-match press conference that his new signing will not be starting the match.
That means Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Winks look set to be the two who start in the middle of the park unless Conte springs a major surprise and gives youngster Harvey White the nod.
Tottenham's midfield options have been further reduced this past week with Giovani Lo Celso and Tanguy Ndombele departing on loan to Villarreal and Lyon respectively, with Dele Alli also moving on to Everton on a permanent deal.
Conte did reveal in his press conference that he does feel the squad is now "more complete" following their transfer dealings, yet he did make a point of mentioning that their transfer outgoings were "not normal" after four moved on.
"Honestly, before arriving at Tottenham, to read the list of players you have in the squad, I considered all the players are important players, no? Because Ndombele we paid a lot for and it was the same for Lo Celso and Gil," he explained.
"Then only when you’re in the situation, you understand very well which is the best solution for the club and for the players in this moment.
"For sure to lose four players in January, I repeat is not normal. We shared the decision with the club and the players, but I repeat, it means something wrong happened in the past. Usually you buy players to reinforce your team, you don't lose players after one, two or three years.
"For this reason, we have to pay more attention in the future when we go in the market about the choice of the players. It becomes of fundamental importance if we want to reinforce the quality of the team. Otherwise, when you go reinforce the quality of your team, you drop the quality of your team."
Tottenham's squad may now be "more complete" following the arrivals of Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski but what many fans have pointed to is a lack of options off the bench when Spurs need to try and turn a game in their favour.
Currently in seventh and two points off Manchester United in the final Champions League spot, Tottenham do have games in hand on their rivals as they look to secure a top-four berth after two extremely frustrating seasons in the capital.
Tottenham are going to need to be on their game in the remaining weeks of the campaign and, as was the case at Leicester City last month, points could quite easily be won from off the bench.
Conte is well stocked in defence with plenty of numbers to choose from but it's a different story altogether when it comes to attacking options.
If we take the head coach's favoured selection since his arrival at the club in November, Skipp and Hojbjerg have been his choice in the midfield two, with Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane his attacking trio.
That leaves his current midfield options as Bentancur, Winks and White, while Kulusevski, Steven Bergwijn and Dane Scarlett will offer support in attack.
Those alternatives could soon change, however, depending on whether new signings Bentancur and Kulusevski are thrown into his Premier League XI.
Players such as Ndombele, Lo Celso and Bryan Gil did clearly need to move on due to their lack of playing time at Tottenham but that has subsequently seen Conte's creative options from the bench disappear as a result.
However, it is worth pointing out that neither Ndombele or Lo Celso were fancied by the boss going on their lack of minutes in the Premier League under him and it was duly decided to let them leave in January.
Gil, on the other hand, had looked bright when given playing time off the bench but needed the minutes to aid his development rather than biding his time at Tottenham after only 30 minutes across four league appearances for Conte so far.
The Italian did allude to a lack of creativity when speaking after the win at Leicester and that is even more evident now.
In terms of Spurs' current game-changing options at the club, Winks has shown in recent weeks that he can have a say on Tottenham's attacking play with some lovely through balls to his teammates and more minutes are likely to come his way.
The lack of choice on the bench, though, is rather telling and it will instead put more pressure on those attacking players coming on to try and turn things in their favour.
Desperately needing the points in their battle for a place in Europe's premier competition, hopefully the shortfall of attacking options doesn't prove costly come the final day at Norwich City in May.
Regardless of what happens come the end of the season, Conte and Fabio Paratici must address the issue in the summer.
Conte's preferred XI this season: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Reguilon; Lucas, Son, Kane
Conte's other options
Goalkeepers: Gollini, Austin
Wing-backs: Doherty, Sessegnon
Centre-backs: Sanchez, Tanganga, Rodon
Central midfielders: Winks, Bentancur, White
Attackers: Bergwijn, Kulusevski, Scarlett
