Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has been hit with yet another untimely suspension blow, as Yves Bissouma will sit out his side's clash with Aston Villa following the international break.
The Lilywhites already had two players on the naughty step for Saturday's Premier League clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers, where neither Destiny Udogie nor Cristian Romero were available.
Both men were serving bans for their sending-offs in Monday's 4-1 loss to London rivals Chelsea, where Udogie was cautioned twice for tackles on Raheem Sterling, while Romero was given a straight red for an awful tackle on Enzo Fernandez.
Udogie will therefore be eligible to return for the visit of Villa in two weekends time, but Romero still has two more suspended games to serve, also ruling him out of December's meeting with champions Manchester City.
The Argentine will now have a new face joining him on the banned list for the clash with Unai Emery's side, as Bissouma picked up his fifth yellow card of the league season at Molineux and has incurred a one-game suspension in the process.
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After struggling to deliver under Antonio Conte last season, the Mali international has been given a new lease of life under Postecoglou, thriving in a midfield partnership with Pape Sarr.
However, indiscipline has now overshadowed Bissouma's bright start on more than one occasion, as he was memorably sent off against Luton Town for two bookable offences, the second being a dive right under the referee's nose.
Bissouma missed his side's win over Fulham as a result, and while his first booking against Luton was his fifth of the season, he remained on four yellows due to his dismissal at Kenilworth Road.
As such, the former Brighton & Hove Albion man continued to tread a tightrope, and towards the end of the first half against Wolves, he entered the referee's book for a rash tackle on Mario Lemina.
The 27-year-old also saw another challenge go unpunished before he was hooked in the 76th minute, and his imminent suspension means that he will not play for his club again for the remainder of the month.
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Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had already joined Bissouma and Sarr in a midfield three for the clash with Wolves owing to James Maddison's serious ankle injury, but Postecoglou is still blessed with options to deputise for the Mali man.
Oliver Skipp and the fit-again Rodrigo Bentancur could be drafted into the XI against Villa, while Giovani Lo Celso is a candidate to start as a number 10, allowing Hojbjerg and Sarr to sit a little deeper.
Prior to Bissouma's yellow card and substitution, Tottenham had taken the lead at Molineux through a third-minute Brennan Johnson strike, and Wolves would seemingly be left to rue profligacy once again.
However, Pablo Sarabia's stunning 90th-minute volley drew the hosts level before Lemina found the bottom corner in the seventh minute of injury time, consigning Spurs to back-to-back Premier League defeats for the fourth time in 2023.
Postecoglou affirmed that he still saw "plenty of positives" despite his side's late collapse, which allowed Arsenal to leapfrog their rivals into second place by beating Burnley, and Liverpool could bump Spurs down to fourth spot with a win over Brentford on Sunday.
Ben Knapton
