Sherwood was unable to call upon Sandro, Younes Kaboul, Erik Lamela, Kyle Naughton, Paulinho, Gylfi Sigurdsson or Jan Vertonghen for Saturday’s third-round tie at Emirates Stadium.
And Tottenham's head coach was left to rue his lengthy list of absentees, with the Premier League leaders claiming a 2-0 win.
Former Tottenham midfielder Sherwood was only able to make one change to the XI that lined up against Manchester United on New Year's Day and felt a hectic recent schedule was partly responsible for the team's below-par display.
He said: "It's been six games in 17 days and we've probably the smallest squad in the league because of injuries."
Sherwood refused to criticise Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who gestured to Tottenham fans to remind them of the score when he was carried off with a knee injury.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was told by medical staff that coins had been thrown at the England international by Tottenham fans.
And Sherwood had no complaints with Walcott's reaction to the away supporters.
"I don't know Theo; I don't know him as a lad. Maybe it was a bit of banter." he said.
Santi Cazorla opened the scoring in the first half and Tomas Rosicky robbed Danny Rose to double Arsenal's lead after the interval.
Tottenham caused their foes few problems and Sherwood could not help but be impressed with Wenger's side.
"We came to a team who are top of the league for a good reason. They're very, very good." he added.
