Tottenham entered this month desperate for reinforcements to fill the gaps left by their injury list, and end it perhaps even more in need.
It seems that when one player returns from injury, another replaces him in the treatment room. With five days remaining, 10 Spurs players are battling injuries, and there is a daunting run approaching.
Until the seeming relief of hosting bottom club Southampton on April 5, Spurs face trips to Brentford, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Fulham and Chelsea, as well as Ipswich who turned them over in north London earlier this season.
And the home games aren't much better, especially with Ange Postecoglou's side not having won a league game in N17 for three months. Both Manchester clubs and high-flying Bournemouth visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the coming weeks.
So additions are needed more than ever. Here, our Tottenham expert MATT BARLOW answers five key questions facing Spurs before the window closes on February 3.
What business have Spurs done so far and will they be happy with it?
They swooped to sign 21-year-old Czech goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky for £12.5million from Slavia Prague at the start of the window which looked decisive and sensible, with Guglielmo Vicario and Fraser Forster both out at the time.
It was one of those deals identified for the summer market and brought forward because of the goalkeeping crisis at the time.
Kinsky made an excellent debut against Liverpool in the first leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final, and has had some uncomfortable moments - not least in his second game, at Arsenal - since behind a team in poor form, but it looks like good business.
Spurs will be pleased to have acquired a talented young goalkeeper, tipped for great things at a reasonable price with time to mature and adapt to the English game.
Ange Postecoglou has had time to look in training at Hyeok Yang-min, an 18-year-old winger from South Korea who signed last summer but did not arrive until December, and decided to send him on loan to QPR in the hope he will play games.
Homegrown centre half Alfie Dorrington has gone on loan to Aberdeen and striker Dane Scarlett, 20, has been recalled from loan at Oxford in the Championship, in the hope he can find another loan and more game time.
What more do they need and do they have money to spend?
Postecoglou will be disappointed not to have added at least one more forward to his squad.
This was always his personal priority, and the need has been intensified by injuries to Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson.
He says they are ‘playing with fire’ if they do not bring players in, but his public mantra during January has usually been that reinforcements are needed but the club is working hard to make that happen.
Money should not be the issue for Spurs but they appear determined not to be distracted from the strategy set out by technical director Johan Lange, which is to sign young talent without breaking the bank.
They are still in pursuit, either for one who fits the profile or a short-term fix on loan until the end of the season and are in the swirl with all the other clubs looking for a forward or two and waiting for the dominoes to start toppling.
Spurs are short in defence but they appear to have decided against bringing in more defenders this month.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are closer to full fitness and both Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon have stepped in to prove they can help out in an emergency and perhaps provide the cover to get them through to the summer.
Then, highly rated centre half Luka Vuskovic, 17, will complete a move from Hajduk Split after a season on loan in Belgium.
Which signings are they targeting?
They set out with a short list of forwards including potential short-term deals for those on the move, including Randal Kolo Muani, who opted for Juventus, and Marcus Rashford who is still at Manchester United and wants to go to Barcelona.
There is interest in Mathys Tel, who has decided he wants to leave Bayern Munich but there is a clamour for the 19-year-old France Under 21 international. Spurs are in a fight with others including Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea.
The same goes for Tyler Dibling, a striker in their sights after an impressive breakthrough at Southampton but who is also attracting interest from Manchester United and is more likely to leave St Mary’s in the summer.
These plates and more will carrying on shifting. They also have an eye on Evan Ferguson of Brighton, who could become available, and Evann Guessand, who is in good form at Nice.
There has been no move to fill the void by recalling any of the forwards currently out on loan, including Manor Solomon, who has been scoring goals at Leeds, or Bryan Gil (at Girona) or Alejo Veliz (at Espanyol).
Who could still leave?
Postecoglou does not have the luxury to let senior players leave. Even Reguilon, who was available at the start of January has proved useful in recent weeks of crisis, if only from the bench.
Scarlett will probably be loaned out if Spurs can sign another forward but if all their efforts run dry they might decide its better to keep him at least as an option from the bench.
Will Lankshear is a teenage centre forward who they hoped could go out and gain vital experience on loan in the second half of the season, but who might yet be required to stay and fill the bench if they cannot make any new signings.
Which Spurs players have stepped up in January and could be 'like a new signing' for the rest of the season?
Spence has stepped in capably to play at full back on both the left and right, which represents progress for him given that the expectation at the start of this month was that his Spurs days were numbered.
Reguilon has appeared from the bench and proved useful. Although Postecoglou may not consider either to be quite like a new signing.
Brandon Austin, now fourth-choice goalkeeper since the arrival of Kinsky, has made his first senior appearances and performed well.
Teenagers Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall have excelled during this time of crisis, while 17-year-old winger Mikey Moore, who flickered early in the season before illness, is back and could make an impact before the end of the campaign.
