Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou is without another member of his Spurs squad alongside winger Wilson Odobert, who was forced off during their smash-and-grab 2-1 win away to Coventry on Wednesday.
Spurs avoid embarrassment with dramatic late victory at Coventry
The north Londoners were on the verge of an embarrassing result in the EFL Cup third round on Wednesday evening, and were nearly knocked out of the competition very early doors by the Championship side.
Following a lacklustre attacking display in the first half, which carried on through into the second period, Spurs were made to pay when Brandon Thomas-Asante buried a close range effort past Fraser Forster - giving Lilywhites supporters a real fright.
The prospect of an EFL Cup run and potential silverware was dwindling by the minute, and it took two last-gasp strikes to ensure Postecoglou was not seriously humbled on a nervy night in the West Midlands.
Djed Spence buried an equaliser for Spurs in the 88th minute before Wales international Brennan Johnson, who deactivated all of his social media accounts in the build-up to this game following online abuse, bagged an added-time winner to silence his critics.
Spence was also on the verge of joining Genoa in the summer, after spending the second half of 23/24 on a temporary spell at the Serie A side, but the Englishman has since fought his way back into Postecoglou's plans. It was a relieving end to the 90 for Tottenham's head coach, who subsequently praised his players for holding their nerve and coming through a very tough test.
"I thought I was a typical cup game. I thought Coventry were really good," said Postecoglou on Tottenham's win at Coventry.
"They put some real energy into the game, and we couldn't really get a grip on it. So we had to hang in there. We had to work really, really hard just to stay in the game and obviously going a goal behind makes it even more challenging. But like you said at the end there we showed some real spirit and character, which is probably what's been missing in the first four games. We've had the performance, but we haven't had that relentlessness to to get a result. You sense that in the last 10 minutes, we got real belief out of that, and hopefully that's a good sign moving forward."
A downside of the hard-fought win was summer signing Odobert being forced off, with what has been described as a potentially significant injury by Postecoglou. However, the ex-Burnley winger isn't their only absence ahead of Brentford on Saturday.
Indeed, Richarlison has missed Tottenham's last few games through injury, and he isn't any closer to returning. Speaking in a pre-match press conference before Brentford, Postecoglou confirmed that Richarlison will miss Brentford with Odobert, and the £134,000-per-week Brazilian isn't expected back for a while.
"[Richarlison] is a fair way off," said Postecoglou. "You're better off not asking about him until I give an update because he's not with the first team."
Being without both Richarlison and Odobert before Brentford is a real blow, as it leaves Spurs short of options in the attacking areas. Postecoglou will be hoping the former can return as soon as possible, as he needs an alternative to summer signing Dominic Solanke going forward.