Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham manager, fears injuries to midfield players could hamper his side's bid to qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
The Londoners remain on course to do just that thanks to a 2-1 victory over Everton at White Hart Lane, with Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko and Croatia playmaker Luka Modric the men on target.
That lifted them above Manchester City and into fourth place courtesy of a superior goal difference.
Yet the victory was obtained at a cost as Tom Huddlestone was stretchered off early in the second half with a leg injury, with Everton gaining the ascendancy as soon as he departed.
The England international will undergo a scan to ascertain the extent of the damage but Tottenham fear he could be sidelined for a number of weeks. If so, he would join a lengthy injury list.
"Obviously we are going to miss Tom, he's a top player for us," Redknapp said.
"He makes us play. He's a great passer and when he went off we couldn't get Luka (Modric) and Niko Kranjcar on the ball as much as we had.
"We don't know how bad his injury is but it doesn't look all that good. We are running out of central midfield players.
"We only had three anyway. Jermaine Jenas is having an operation on Wednesday and Wilson Palacios is on nine bookings so it's not an ideal situation."
Kranjcar is set to remain in the unfamiliar role of right winger after David Bentley joined Aaron Lennon on the sidelines.
"Bentley has a tear in his groin," said Redknapp. "He did that in the week. Lennon has got to rest for six weeks with his groin problem so we are picking up a few knocks to key players."
Everton manager David Moyes knows all about losing key players to injury as that was the story of the Toffees' first half of the campaign.
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