Antonio Conte has had his fair share of injuries to contend with since taking on the Tottenham job at the start of November.
Inheriting a team lacking in confidence and struggling to even muster a shot on target after Daniel Levy appointed him in place of Nuno Espirito Santo, the Italian started his tenure with a 3-2 win over Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa Conference League before earning a point away at Everton three days later.
Naming the same side for both games after electing to switch to his favoured 3-4-3 system, it appeared that the 52-year-old had already decided on his strongest XI days after taking on the job.
With Hugo Lloris in goal as ever and playing behind a back three of Cristian Romero, Eric Dier and Ben Davies, Emerson Royal and Sergio Reguilon were selected as his wing-backs.
Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then got the nod in the middle of the park as Lucas Moura, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane formed a front three.
However, he would soon be forced into a change of plan following the news that Romero had sustained a long-term hamstring injury on international duty when playing for Argentina against Brazil.
A Covid-19 outbreak at the club in December then further complicated his plans, before January saw more players, including Dier, Skipp and Son, heading for the treatment room at their Hotspur Way base.
Following such a positive start to life at Tottenham with the team moving themselves back into top-four contention in Levy and the club's quest to regain their Champions League place, results have tailed off by some way at the start of 2022.
Sunday's 2-0 defeat against Wolves made it three straight defeats in the Premier League as they slipped down to eighth in the table, thus bringing their run in 2022 to five defeats from nine games in all competitions.
Boosted by the return of Romero for the FA Cup fourth round clash against Brighton & Hove Albion following a three-month layoff, it was only the Argentine's third game under Conte having failed to play for the Lilywhites since the 0-0 draw at Everton.
That game at Goodison Park was in fact the last time the head coach played his preferred XI with injuries putting pay to his plans over the past few months.
Injuries are part and parcel of football but Conte has been extremely unfortunate not to field his favoured team since his first week in charge.
The return of Romero came at the same time when the head coach had to make do without two of his most important players in Dier and Skipp, with their absence from the team extremely noticeable and also very costly.
Dier, who still has his critics, is Tottenham's leader at the back and they look so much better for having him there as he guides his fellow defenders along.
Skipp has also become one of the first names on the teamsheet at the tender age of 21 due to his ability to put himself about, win the ball and get it moving forward.
The stats are also rather telling when Skipp hasn't started for Tottenham in the Premier League this season with one win, two draws and five defeats from eight games compared to ten wins, one draw and three losses when he has started.
Tottenham have also yet to concede a goal in five games under Conte when Dier, Skipp and Hojbjerg have all started as opposed to conceding 13 goals in seven games when they have not all started.
As poor as Tottenham's results and performances have been in 2022, Conte finally having the opportunity to field his strongest Spurs XI could prove to be the difference whether or not they qualify for next season's Champions League come May and complete Levy's task in the process.
The January addition of Rodrigo Bentancur could also see the boss switch things about in terms of what he believes is his best Tottenham team going forward, with Hojbjerg's place now under serious threat.
Still waiting for the go-ahead from the club's medical team for Dier and Skipp to return after their recent injuries, once Conte has the green light then he can finally do something at Tottenham he hasn't had the opportunity to do since November.
Conte's favoured Spurs XI vs Vitesse and Everton: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Lucas, Kane, Son.
