Ange Postecoglou has all but ruled Micky van de Ven out of Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League fixture at Fulham.
Since arriving from Wolfsburg during the summer transfer window, Van de Ven has showed the capabilities of becoming one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
His natural speed is an asset to a Spurs backline that plays with a high-line, and a total of 20 starts have been made in all competitions.
However, the negative part of his first campaign in North London has been two injuries, the first being a significant hamstring issue sustained in November.
After two months out, the Dutchman was able to make his return and has again impressed since reuniting with Cristian Romero in the middle of the Spurs backline.
On Sunday, though, Van de Ven suffered another hamstring problem during the early stages of the second half of the fixture at Aston Villa, one which Spurs won by a 4-0 scoreline.
Once Van de Ven was replaced by Radu Dragusin, it was quickly anticipated that he would be ruled out of the short trip to the Cottagers on Saturday evening.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Postecoglou has hinted that he is hopeful of only a short layoff for the Netherlands international, even if he will not feature at Fulham.
Postecoglou said: "We're still getting all the information in. Look, he's unlikely for this weekend, we don't think it's anything major.
"We'll probably get some information at the back end of the week, so [he's] unlikely for Fulham, but with the international break hopefully it means he doesn't miss too much after that."
Earlier in the campaign, Spurs were caught short in numbers when Van de Ven and Romero were absent at the same time, but Dragusin has since arrived to add more competition.
Although the 22-year-old was starring in Serie A with Genoa, he is yet to make a start for Spurs, instead being restricted to four substitute outings.
However, helping Spurs keep a clean sheet at Villa Park will have gone some way to winning over Postecoglou after a shaky cameo outing versus Everton at the start of February. body check tags ::
