It's not been an easy time to be associated with Chelsea in recent months. The Blues have struggled to string a run of good form together since Graham Potter fell to his first defeat as Chelsea boss against Brighton and sit 10th, 11 points outside of the top four.
Chelsea's head coach has rarely had a full squad to choose from, but would admit that his side has played below its capabilities, with the spotlight only growing more intense because of the £600 million spent over the last two transfer windows.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of facing the Lilywhites, Potter highlighted the defeat to Newcastle in November as emblematic of the club's struggles. All in all, Chelsea have struggled for any kind of consistency off the pitch as well as on it.
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Potter said: "We have the most unprecedented injury situation in that period in the Premier League. We played Newcastle before the break and we had no Kepa, no Reece James, no Ben Chilwell, no Marc Cucurella, no Wesley Fofana, no N'Golo Kante, no Raheem Sterling, no Ruben Loftus-Cheek after two minutes, and no Cesar Azpilicueta. We lost 1-0 and that is where we were at.
"We then had the World Cup, then the club invest a lot of money in the squad and the pressure, expectation, and noise goes up. But the players we got, they're not 28-year-old, 400-game Premier League players. They are young players that take time to adapt to, and at the same time we've got the injured players who have to get up to speed to play in the Premier League.
"That is the position we were in. We thought we were making progress but then we had the first half against Southampton – the third game in a week after a Champions League game –that was below par. Then the sky can fall in. That's essentially how I can say that are some of the inconvenient facts if you say I'm not used. But that is the situation."
The clash against Spurs perhaps offers hope of some of these problems being resolve. Chelsea remain without five players in Christian Pulisic, N'Golo Kante, Armando Broja, Cesar Azpilicueta and Edoard Mendy but have seven of the players Potter name-checked available. A difficult task for Potter to narrow down his numbers but in the likes of James, Chilwell, Kepa and Sterling, he has some experienced operators.
Sterling further appears to fit the bill as an answer in filling the gap for what Potter feels Chelsea have lacked. While January's signings have largely been of a younger profile in Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Enzo Fernandez.
The summer was a different story however. The Blues brought in experience and Sterling, perhaps more than any other fits the bill. The former Man City star at 28 and with 337 Premier League appearances, certainly comes close to meeting Potter's criteria.
The 47-year-old coach turned to Sterling after a dire opening 45 minutes against Southampton last weekend and while the forward could not find a goal, he took on the burden of responsibility to ensure Chelsea generated chances as he once again made a return from injury. While the Blues took a step back, Sterling took a step forward and the pressure is now on the England international to add to his nine-goal contributions that seem him top of the Chelsea pile.
Potter is correct in suggesting there are some inconvenient facts, but against Spurs he must take every opportunity to not let them get in the way. He must pick the strongest options he has available. The likes of James and Thiago Silva were rested against the Saints to manage fitness rather than because they were injured.
Sunday is the match where things must start coming together to begin to relieve the pressure on Potter in the Chelsea hot seat.
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