Harry Redknapp will field a skeleton side during tonight's Uefa Cup clash against Spartak Moscow. The club is yet to secure qualification from Group D, and with half a dozen first team players sidelined through injury, progression is far from a foregone conclusion.
With the likes of Jonathan Woodgate, Ledley King, Jermaine Jenas, Giovani Dos Santos and Alan Hutton unavailable, Redknapp faces selection headache across the pitch.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in attack. Harry's preparations for the match were dealt a further blow with the news that Darren Bent has tonsillitis. With former Spartak forward Roman Pavlyuchenko cup-tied, on-loan Frazier Campbell is the only fit senior striker.
No wonder Redknapp feels his priority is to bring in a forward - preferably on loan - during the January transfer window. In the mean time, he will have to rely on youth to get the job done.
Most likely to feature are John Bostock and Dean Parrett - 16 and 17 respectively - with the former in contention for his first start for the club.
Parrett joined the club as a 15-year-old in a £1m move from Queens Park Rangers in 2006 and became a full-time member of the academy in 2008-09.
Described as an all-action midfielder, the youngster impressed at junior level and last season he made seventeen appearances for the Under-18 side, scoring three goals.
Having played for
Both he and Bostock's potential appearance in the competition also owes a lot to former boss Juande Ramos' decision to freeze several senior fringe players out of his side. Given his current selection dilemma, Redknapp would most certainly have called on the likes of Ricardo Rocha, Adel Taarabt or Hossam Ghaly had the Spaniard registered them for the competition.
This week the former Pompey boss said it would be a "big achievement" if the club were to finish the season in the top half of the table. At Monday's annual general meeting he told shareholders only a major overhaul of the squad is required for a serious assault on Champions League qualification was to be mustered next season.
Given that his assessment came minutes after chairman Daniel Levy told the packed meeting that he did not foresee any major investment in the playing staff over the coming month, it is unsurprising Redknapp is now talking about loans rather than big money signings.
Harry, it would seem, is not one for making promises he cannot keep. His stark assessment of the club's ambitions all but ruled out the possibility of European qualification this term.
He said: "Not European qualification but, if we can finish in the top four I will be delighted. It'd have been a great season given where we started. We had two points from eight games. If we'd just gone on a normal run getting, say, a point a game, we'd be sitting there now will 11 points and bang in trouble."
For Harry, the only chance of continuing the European adventure into a third successive season rests with the Carling Cup. "Hopefully we will get to Wembley and have a real go at winning the Carling Cup as well. To win the Cup and have a top half finish would be a big achievement."
Redknapp's realism may well come as a disappointment to fans who have been buoyed by the results - if not always the performances - since he took over in October. However, it is a sensible outlook - both for the players and for the supporters.
Among the many factors that contributed to the downfall of both Juande Ramos and Martin Jol, overconfidence must be ranked as one of the more significant. After genuine progress was made, summers were awash with optimism, when pundits and fans alike predicted the club would break the hegemony of the top four, only for the players to believe the hype and end up at the wrong end up struggling at the wrong end of the table. In this light, Redknapp's attempts to keep his players feet on the ground and heads in the real world can only be positive.
Harry views the Uefa Cup as something of an unwanted nuisance, but it represents a useful opportunity to blood youngsters against experienced opposition. He has proved himself the sort of manager who picks his teams on merit, so Bostock and Parrett, or Obika, Dorian Dervite and Danny Rose, will know that an impressive showing against this evening could herald an extended run with the senior squad.
Possible team: Gomes, Gunter,
Prediction: Tottenham 1 - Spartak Moscow 1
Redknapp's patchwork side should do enough on the night to secure the point needed to guarantee qualification. In fact, only a heavy defeat combined win for NEC over group leaders Udinese would see us fail to qualify from the group stages.
With such depleted attacking options we may struggle to score, but with Michael Dawson in impressive form, and a revitalised Gomes finally putting in the performances which saw him become and idol in