In the battle of the depleted squads, it was Tottenham who most missed their absent players in a chaotic 4-2 defeat to Brighton which underlined the gap between Ange Postecoglou's starters and back-ups - as well as the spirit of his squad.
At 4-0 down, this looked likely to be a humbling night for Spurs against a Brighton side who were also missing nine players but were as menacing as ever and could have score more against a sloppy and passive opponent.
But Spurs rallied late on, with goals back from substitute Alejo Veliz and Ben Davies, and threatened a late comeback, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg hitting the post and Pedro Porro and Heung-min Son going close.
It papered over the cracks of a poor display but given so much of Postecoglou's fledgling project is about the feelgood factor, at least Spurs could take some positives away from the south coast.
Ultimately, however, Brighton deserved to win and understandably sat off at 4-0 after a pair of Joao Pedro penalties either side of half-time were sandwiched between fine strikes by Jack Hinshelwood and Pervis Estupinan - the latter an absolute screamer.
Postecoglou was missing both his starting centre-backs - Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven - to hamstring strains, and two-thirds of his preferred midfielders with James Maddison injured and Yves Bissouma suspended, while Oliver Skipp, who started against Everton last time out, was also out with a knock.
The result was a patched-up side who were outfought by Brighton for 75 minutes and often played into the hosts' hands. Hojbjerg, in at No6, repeatedly lost the ball in the face of Brighton's press, continuing a theme of the Dane's rare starts coinciding with Spurs' poorest displays of the season.
The stand-in centre-half pairing of Emerson Royal and Davies were also poor with and without the ball, and Brighton's opening goal came when Pedro waltzed across the edge of the box, riding several challenges, before squaring to Hinshelwood to hammer home a rocket.
By that point, Guglielmo Vicario had already made two outstanding saves to deny Danny Welbeck in the space of a 90 seconds and before the interval the Italian also denied Pedro one-v-one. Without the goalkeeper and the woodwork, which the Seagulls struck twice before half-time, it could have been a rout at the interval.
Spurs did respond, Richarlison hitting the post in first-half stoppage time and twice scoring from an offside position after the break, but they were killed off by Estupinan's stunning strike and a second Pedro penalty for a Giovani Lo Celso foul on Evan Ferguson.
Even with a full squad, there were always likely to be off-days for Spurs this season while they adapt to Postecoglou's approach but they remain in a strong position to challenge for the top four, and this result should further underline the importance of a strong January transfer window.
Spurs looked jaded and with too many square pegs.
They desperately need a new centre-half early in the month and perhaps a new midfielder, with Bissouma and Pape Sarr set for the Africa Cup of Nations next month.
Before then, Postecoglou's dire selections concerns will only increase, with Dejan Kulusevski suspended for the New Year's Eve visit of Bournemouth for the shirt tug on Welbeck which earned Brighton's first penalty.
Take nothing from Brighton, who were outstanding for the majority of the game and ended their mini-slump. The Seagulls are capable of routing the best sides and Roberto De Zerbi's project is nearly a year ahead of Postecoglou's, which showed here.
