Four games without a win, five defeats in nine, two victories in 12 - whatever way you dress it up, Tottenham Hotspur's form going into tonight's Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg tie at home to Liverpool does not make for pretty reading. But there is context behind it.

While head coach Ange Postecoglou's managerial philosophy has been questioned during his side's struggles, in defence of the under-fire Spurs head coach, he is without a number of his strongest players, particularly in defence.

But the bad news for Tottenham - and good news for Liverpool - is that the situation has not got any better since their 2-1 Premier League loss at home to Newcastle United on Saturday. In fact, it's got worse.

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So much so that Spurs could be without 11 players for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium showdown against a Reds side who are looking to reach a third League Cup final in four years.

Postecoglou's first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is definitely out with the fractured ankle he sustained in the 4-0 win at Manchester City on November 23. Veteran Fraser Forster has been deputising between the posts but he missed out against Newcastle with a bug that hit also hit Radu Dragusin and his stand-in centre-back partner Archie Gray.

Dragusin - Spurs' only fit and available senior centre-back - had to come off at half-time but Postecoglou said yesterday that the Romanian was feeling better along with Gray and winger Dejan Kulusevski, who had also been under the weather.

Dragusin and Gray are likely to start in the heart of the defence as first-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero as well as Ben Davies and Destiny Udogie remain sidelined.

And the makeshift pair could be lining up in front of a new goalkeeper. After 17 years at Tottenham, Brandon Austin made his first-team debut at the weekend. While the 25-year-old American was named man of the match, he could lose his place to new signing Antonin Kinsky, who completed a £12.5m move from Slavia Prague at the weekend.

On whether the 21-year-old Czech Republic youth international would start against Liverpool, Postecoglou said: "We'll see. He arrived Sunday and he's had a couple of days' of training. He's obviously registered to play."

Another player Spurs will welcome into the squad is midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur after he served a one-match Premier League suspension after incurring five yellow cards. However, Postecoglou will certainly be without two more midfielders in James Maddison and Pape Matar Sarr.

They are banned for this evening's first leg after picking up their second cautions of this season's competition in the thrilling quarter-final victory at home to Manchester United.

Further forward, Liverpool nemesis Richarlison, as well as Wilson Odobert, are still injured, but another attacker, highly-rated youngster Mikey Moore, could return to the bench.