Cape Town - Tottenham Hotspur will be without Mousa Dembele for the rest of 2018 after the Belgian midfielder suffered ankle ligament damage.
The 31-year-old former AZ and Fulham man picked up the injury in the 3-2 win against Wolves last weekend.
Subsequent scans have revealed the extent of the injury sustained to the influential Spurs player.
Speaking ahead of facing Crystal Palace on Saturday, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino told Sky: "We hope that from the beginning of January he will be ready.
"It is always about the patience, how he is going to react to the injury but we hope he is going to be ready by the early January.
"We always miss all of the players when they are injured. In 13 days we have played five games, every two and a half days we are competing."