When Tottenham announce their line-up for Saturday's home game against Sunderland, most fans will immediately focus on the central midfielders, to see whether Tom Carroll has been replaced by Mousa Dembele.
There are not many other questions as Mauricio Pochettino's favoured XI is fairly predictable these days. There is nothing really wrong with that. Consistency breeds confidence and allows relationships to develop all over the pitch.
Yet it can also hint at a lack of competition for places. While Spurs' head coach and players are always keen to stress their strength in depth, at least seven members of the team are automatic picks in the priority Premier League games.
The most interesting battle is probably at left-back, where Ben Davies has overtaken Danny Rose in the pecking order for now. The Welshman has started four of the last five league games; the other one being the trip to Watford on Dec. 28 when Pochettino rotated both of his full-backs due to the busy Christmas schedule.
This is the fight that Spurs were hoping for when they signed Davies from Swansea 18 months ago. It did not really materialise last season. The 22-year-old looked unconfident for much of last term and a rather disappointing campaign ended prematurely and ignominiously at Southampton in April when he dallied in front of his own goal, allowing Graziano Pelle to prod past Hugo Lloris at close range, and then unfortunately went off with a dislocated shoulder.
Meanwhile, Rose finished the season as arguably Spurs' most-improved player, having scored four goals and set up another four, and there were rumours champions Chelsea and Manchester City were interested in him.
Rose has had good performances this season as well and his assist for Harry Kane in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal at the Emirates -- when he freed the striker with a curling through ball from inside his own half -- underlined his quality.
He is quicker than Davies and more dynamic, as he showed in Sunday's FA Cup tie against Leicester when he burst into the box and won the late penalty that enabled Kane to grab a 2-2 draw and a replay. Rose is also better in the air despite being shorter than Davies.
But Davies now appears to have acclimatised to life in north London following his big move from Wales, and is surely now in his best form during his time at Spurs.
There have been times when his first thought was a backwards one -- a safe, easy pass to Jan Vertonghen. Yet now he seems eager to make an impact in the opponents' half and confident in his ability to do so. He has hit the crossbar against Anderlecht and Everton and there was an intelligence to his use of the ball in the final third against Leicester on Wednesday night, even though Spurs lost 1-0.
On one occasion he elected to pass inside to Kane. On another he played it down the line to Erik Lamela, who flashed an over-hit cross over Kane from the by-line. Then there were two low crosses to Lamela in the second half. So far this campaign Davies has three assists, while Rose has two.
Fans have differing views in this debate. Some feel Davies is the better defender and that his crosses are more accurate. Meanwhile, some feel Rose would have done a better job of exploiting the space on the left flank in the midweek defeat as he has the ability to beat a man.
On balance, Rose at his best is probably better than Davies but the gap between the two has narrowed significantly this season and it is one area where Pochettino has a nice dilemma.
The full-backs are key to his system and they will be important again on Saturday as Spurs bid to unlock Sunderland's defence and bounce back from their midweek loss against Leicester.
Having finished 2015 with a flourish and won three successive league games, Tottenham have been unable to win any of their first three matches in 2016 and they have lost two of their last three home matches in the top flight.
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