Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur faces a "couple of months" on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
The Uruguay international had slowly been regaining match fitness in the wake of February's ACL injury, and he made his first start since that fateful day against Aston Villa last weekend.
However, Bentancur's afternoon was cut short in the first half of that 2-1 defeat, as he was the victim of a reckless challenge from Matty Cash and trudged off the field to be replaced by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the 32nd minute.
Reports earlier this week claimed that the luckless Bentancur would be unavailable for around 10 weeks, and Postecoglou confirmed the worst to Spurs' media channels ahead of Sunday's clash with champions Manchester City at the Etihad.
"It's disappointing for him, the outcome wasn't great so he'll probably miss a fair chunk of time between now and the New Year, probably a couple of months for him to get back," Postecoglou told Spurs' social media channels.
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"We all know how hard he's worked to get himself back and playing for his country, it was his first start and he started awfully well for us. For him, everyone's feeling gutted but he's such a positive guy. He can't wait to get cracking again and I've got no doubt we'll see him back as soon as possible."
No sooner had Bentancur exited the treatment room before re-entering the packed infirmary, which also holds James Maddison (ankle), Micky van de Ven (thigh), Ryan Sessegnon (hamstring), Ashley Phillips (ankle), Ivan Perisic (knee), Manor Solomon (knee) and Alfie Whiteman (ankle).
Richarlison is also working his way back from a groin operation, while Pape Sarr sat out the loss to Aston Villa with an unspecified injury sustained during the November international break.
Postecoglou revealed that Richarlison should be involved in some aspects of team training on Saturday, but the clash with Man City will come too soon for the Brazilian, while Sarr's problem is also yet to clear up.
"Richy's probably the closest out of the ones who have been missing, we'll look to get him involved in training hopefully tomorrow, and then we'll see how he is because he's obviously missed a fair bit," Postecoglou added.
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"He feels good, which is important, he's the next cab off the rank in terms of the injured guys. Pape's probably a little bit behind so we'll just see how he goes. Out of the injured guys they're the two we're hoping will be back within the next couple of weeks. The rest of them we won't see until the New Year."
When asked if he had ever faced such a devastating injury crisis, Postecoglou added: "Not in such a severe way I guess, when you're around for a long time you get injuries but I guess the amount of injuries coupled with the suspensions we've had, not many periods I've experienced with the amount of absences I've seen.
"It is what it is, we've just got to get on with it and certainly the guys who came in last week I was really pleased with. We'll get them some more game time and hopefully we'll go from there."
Cristian Romero must also serve the third of a three-game suspension this weekend, but Postecoglou will have key midfield cog Yves Bissouma back in the fold following the Mali international's own one-game ban.
Tottenham have been bumped down to fifth place in the table owing to their three successive losses to Chelsea, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Villa, but they could move level on points with Man City should they claim a shock win at the Etihad, and not since 2004 have Spurs lost four league games on the trot.
Ben Knapton
