Tottenham: Brandon Austin and Alfie Dorrington on standby as sickly Spurs prepare for Newcastle | OneFootball

An illness in the squad could force the pair’s first ever starts for Spurs

It is fitting of Tottenham's season that a rare free week without a match has somehow turned into another major selection headache for Ange Postecoglou.

The six-day gap between Spurs' 2-2 draw with Wolves last weekend and Saturday's early kick-off against Newcastle was supposed to be an opportunity for Postecoglou's squad to switch off and recover after a gruelling sequence of five games in 14 days – part of a run of mid-week matches stretching back to August.

Instead, after two days off at the start of the week, "several" Spurs players reported back to the club on Wednesday with a sickness bug, which is threatening to leave Postecoglou even shorter of numbers for Newcastle's visit – with eight already ruled out through injury and Rodrigo Bentancur suspended again.

"Fair to say I almost got involved in training yesterday, which is not a good thing," Postecoglou said at his Friday press conference, having also revealed that Destiny Udogie has joined the club's lengthy injury list for around six weeks after pulling up with a hamstring strain against Wolves.

Four of Spurs' first-choice back five are now sidelined, with Micky van de Ven (hamstring) and Cristian Romero (quad) not expected back until the end of January and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario (foot) tracking to be fit in late February. Ben Davies (hamstring) is also expected back at the end of this month, though Richarlison (hamstring) and Mikey Moore (virus) should be ready to feature against Liverpool or Tamworth next week.

Steve Welsh/PA Wire

Postecoglou said only "a few players" were ill but they are thought to include some of Spurs' remaining back five, leaving the likes of defender Alfie Dorrington, 19, and third-choice goalkeeper Brandon Austin on standby to face Newcastle, who have won five games on the spin.

James Maddison was not well enough to start against Wolves – though Postecoglou had "no problem" with the playmaker attending the World Darts Championship at Alexandra Palace that night – but the playmaker has trained this week, and is likely to start against the Magpies because he is suspended for Liverpool's visit on Wednesday.

Postecoglou said Spurs were assessing the ill players "hour by hour" but stressed that the situation has already "impacted training", sapping energy from those affected and limiting the impact of a clear week which had felt so important to Spurs' chances of an uptick in their poor form.

No wonder Postecoglou evoked Mario Balotelli when discussing his selection problems, though he characteristically refused to blame the club's summer recruitment for the state of his squad.

"Football is like life and you know how sometimes in life you get one thing go wrong and you get another thing later on, and you're doing nothing different, you're just going 'why is it always me at the moment?'," he said.

"That's just life and sometimes no one's at blame, no one's at fault, you know, it's just, we're going through a bad trot, but it is temporary, we'll get through it. We'll analyse areas we can improve in and move forward from there."

An in-form Newcastle would unlikely be top of Postecoglou's preferred opponents in Spurs' current state but if there is a reason for optimism for the Australian, it may come in the Magpies' own injury troubles last season.

Eddie Howe's squad was stretched to the limit by injuries and Champions League football last term and they lost nine of fifteen games between early November and mid-January – a run comparable to Spurs' six defeats in the last 13 matches.

The Toon, though, kept the faith in Howe and recovered to finish seventh after they crashed out of Europe and key players returned to fitness, while they are pushing for the top-four again this season.

"They had a ridiculous amount of injuries and I actually specifically mentioned Newcastle and how they have a ridiculous amount of injuries and it’s no wonder their form is suffering, but that’s a boring tale, mate," Postecoglou said, when asked if the situations were comparable.

"[But] people will still be outside with pitch forks and looking for heads, so let’s not take that narrative.

"I think [the situations are similar] but it’s boring stuff, mate and I’m a boring person, so I don’t think you’ll get much traction with that," he added, sarcastically.