How often is it that losing your fourth-most important player can constitute a crisis?

That’s the question facing Tottenham at the moment, as they look to stay within touching distance of the Premier League‘s top two – the gap is six points to leaders Liverpool and two to reigning champions Manchester City – and resume their title challenge with a home date against Manchester United this weekend, while losing arguably the league’s most in-form player at the moment.

Heung-min Son has been one of the players to watch ever since his superb solo goal put the bow on Tottenham’s dominant 3-1 win over Chelsea, and though his next six appearances yielded “only” two goals and an assist, his sizzling form during the festive fixture list helped Spurs stay in the title race.

The next block of six games saw Son deliver a stunning seven goals and five assists, form that coincided with Spurs winning five of six games – though the one loss to Wolves may have fatally damaged their title hopes.

That sort of hot run is always welcome at a team that is constantly in need of players to reduce the burden on Harry Kane, yet, surprisingly for a team whose lack of depth is cited as a reason they’ll struggle to keep ground with City and Liverpool, Tottenham are well-equipped to cope with the South Korean’s departure for the Asian Cup in the UAE.

Tottenham have Lucas Moura on the books, a player who earlier this season won the league’s player of the month award, and a respectable tally of eight goals so far this season that should go up as he gets more minutes in Son’s absence – though he’s an injury doubt for the United game. Erik Lamela’s return to fitness is also coming at the perfect time, and if he can hit top form, Spurs will feel a lot more confident about weathering the temporary departure of their Korean star.

But, most importantly, the reason Tottenham shouldn’t be worried is simple: this team has a clearly defined “big three” who are more important to the club’s form than any other player.

In Kane, Dele Alli, and Christian Eriksen, the north London club have three of the Premier League’s most outstanding players. Son has elevated himself to that bracket in recent weeks, and his goals will be missed, but Moura and Lamela have the talent to at least come close to duplicating his output as long as they can find their feet alongside Spurs’ three big stars.

This is not to understate Son’s importance. The 26-year-old’s recent surge has been vital simply because at times, Kane, Alli, and Eriksen can bear an overlarge share of the burden at Tottenham. Having a player who can take some of the attention away from them, and deliver goals and assists at the rate he has been doing makes everyone else’s jobs much easier – apart from Lamela’s and Moura’s, perhaps, as they now face the pressure of matching up to their team-mate’s standards.

But both have shown, in flashes, that they’re capable of it. And Tottenham don’t need those two to go on a tear for the entire rest of the season, because Son will be back by the beginning of February at the latest. Apart from this weekend’s clash against United, the only crunch game the former Bayer Leverkusen player will miss is the second leg of the League Cup semi-final against Chelsea, when Spurs will be defending a 1-0 lead.

League games against Fulham, Newcastle, and Watford – the latter two at home – are fixtures Spurs would be expected to win when all of the first-choice team is available barring one player, unless that player is Kane.

They may miss Son against a resurgent United on Sunday, but he wasn’t even in the squad when Spurs destroyed the Red Devils in August, a 3-0 win in which Moura scored twice. Tottenham have home advantage in this weekend’s return fixture, and every reason to go into that game with confidence, Son or no Son, even with United’s recent run of five straight wins since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over as manager.

For a team that usually would be justified going into a mini-panic over losing an important player, Spurs are surprisingly well-equipped this time around. Meanwhile, Son can go, hopefully for him win the Asian Cup with South Korea, and return even more buoyant and happy.