Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho revealed that Harry Kane will miss "a few weeks" of action after injuring not one but both ankles in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool on Thursday.
The loss at home to the previously out-of-sorts Premier League champions has created a gap between Spurs and the top four, and Kane being unavailable will not do their attempts to battle their way back into the Champions League qualification spots any favours.
Mourinho told the media after the game that he had no choice but to withdraw the forward at half-time, with Erik Lamela replacing him, when an earlier knock to his right ankle was followed by an awkward landing on his left foot.
"The second injury was worse than the first one," Mourinho told BBC Sport. "He was coping with one but couldn't cope with both.
"For Harry to leave a game when the team is losing is not a nothing injury.
"There are some players you can't replace. When it happens it happens, but I believe we have to fight against it, we cannot do anything else."
Kane has a history of ankle problems and the club will not want to risk losing him for more than a month at such a crucial time in the campaign.
Mourinho, meanwhile, went on to say that three individual mistakes cost them in an otherwise-solid performance against Jurgen Klopp's squad.
"We were punished by our own mistakes," said Mourinho.
"Everything went wrong in the first half, we shouldn't be losing at half-time. I thought we were very solid and very confident in the first half.
"To go 1-0 down, not easy. To lose Harry, not easy. And, in the first minute of the second half, to have another defensive mistake, at 2-0 it is mentally difficult to resist.
"But we had a good reaction, in the opposition half, and then another mistake - this time from a young boy [Roden] who played so, so well.
"But I have to praise the guys who stayed on the pitch because they tried until the end."