Spurs' Mousa Dembele could miss North London Derby with ankle injury

Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse for Tottenham Hotspur... it does. Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele was substituted off early in Spurs' 1-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen at Wembley Stadium today with what looked like some sort of injury. Now the Mirror is reporting that Dembele has twisted his ankle and is a doubt for this Sunday's North London Derby clash against Arsenal.

Ho. Lee. Crap. It almost feels like piling on. Spurs are winless in six games, and are already without Toby Alderweireld, who Mauricio Pochettino has said is likely to miss the NLD as well this weekend. Alderweireld's injury means that Eric Dier has been deputizing in the center of defense instead of playing in his natural – and better – position of defensive midfield. Erik Lamela picked up a hip issue and is also questionable for this weekend.

So if Moose can't go, I don't know what this means for the Arsenal match. Maybe one of either Christian Eriksen or Dele Alli drops deep and partners Victor Wanyama in the 4-2-3-1. Maybe we revert to the 4-1-4-1 against Arsenal and hope Victor can find his passing boots. Maybe Harry Winks comes in to partner Wanyama instead. I don't even know.

Moose wasn't especially great today, but nobody barring Jan Vertonghen was especially great. The only positive news I can think heading into Arsenal is that Harry Kane might... maybe... possibly... make the pitch on Sunday. Otherwise, I don't think I've felt this pessimistic going into a North London Derby since we had two points from eight games.