Davis has been struggling with a knee injury since he arrived at Tottenham from Fulham and recently spent two months on the sidelines nursing cartilage damage.

Tottenham’s defeat to Fulham on Saturday was only Davis’ third match back in the first team but he aggravated the injury again and it proved an unhappy return to Craven Cottage for the 25-year-old.

“We always have bad news,” said Santini, frustrated by a growing list of injured players.

“The worst news is for Sean Davis. Yesterday he had an operation on his knee. Our medical staff think he will not be available for two or three months. It is bad news for Sean and also for the team.”

Davis features in a list of seven players unavailable for the Charlton game and at one stage this week Santini only had 12 players fit for training.

Defender Nourredine Naybet and striker Fredi Kanoute are now available, but the lack of competition for places is a major concern for Santini, who is on constant guard against the creeping threat of complacency.

Charlton visit White Hart Lane on Saturday and then after a fourth round Carling Cup trip to Burnley, Spurs head to Highbury for the north London derby against Arsenal.

After three consecutive Barclays Premiership defeats these register as crucial games and Santini needs his leading players to stand up and be counted.

“Each player knows the situation. After our good start it is possible the players thought it would be easy. Now they know it will be difficult,” said Santini.

“The players must play their way out of it. Each player in the team on Saturday must take responsibility. I hope for a good spirit and for each player it is a game each player must take responsibility, especially our international players.

“In the difficult times we see if the players have the qualities of men.

“When we have five or six players injured, you have no competition between the team-mates. Each player thinks ’I am sure to play’. It is possible the player does not give everything in the training session or in the last two or three games.

“I haven’t seen this attitude – but it is possible because it is human nature. When you have two or three players for the same place, each player gives their all. If not, they relax.”

Injuries have been Santini’s bug-bear all season and a topic which he raises every week, ahead of every game.

But as frustrated as he is by the losses of Timothee Atouba to knee ligament damage and Erik Edman to concussion, it is the absence of Davis which is key.

In his short, injury-blighted career at White Hart Lane, Davis has developed into one of Tottenham’s key figures and without his aggressive, ball-winning presence in midfield, Santini fears goals might remain hard to come by.

Tottenham have scored just six goals in 11 Premiership games this season but only failed to find the net in one of the six games in which Davis has featured.

“We win the ball too deep because we are not very aggressive in midfield and when we have 80 metres in front of us, it is very difficult to score. Sean Davis wins the ball in midfield. When we don’t it is difficult to create enough chances,” said Santini.

“In my squad I don’t have a Paul Scholes or a Dennis Bergkamp.”