Manchester City will have two key players back when they take on Tottenham in their Premier League clash this afternoon.
Pep Guardiola’s side eased past Wolves last Saturday with Erling Haaland scoring twice with Tijjani Reijnders looking superb on his competitive debut following his summer arrival from AC Milan.
City were without a number of stars that afternoon with Phil Foden and Rodri watching on from the stands. Both however are available for the visit of Spurs, a huge double boost after it was initially feared the Spain international would not be back until after the September international break.
Josko Gvardiol was another who did not make the trip to Molineux last week and will not be involved today.
Savinho, linked with a move to Tottenham, is also ruled out for a few weeks having missed City’s final pre-season match and their league opener last weekend.
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City are also set to remain without Mateo Kovacic who is recovering from an Achilles injury which is expected to sideline him until September at the earliest.
Spurs enjoyed a sparkling start to life under Thomas Frank, thrashing Burnley 3-0 in their opener, but their week soured on Wednesday when it emerged Arsenal had hijacked their move to sign Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace.
They too are dealing with a handful of injury concerns.
In addition to long-term absentees James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma missed last weekend’s victory after picking up a knock in training. The former Brighton midfielder missed the Uefa Super Cup clash with Paris Saint-Germain due to disciplinary reasons and will miss out again today.
Destiny Udogie meanwhile missed Tottenham’s entire pre-season tour and while he is back in first-team training, this weekend comes too soon for hi
Summer signing Kota Takai is also still recovering from injury.
Man City XI to face Tottenham – Metro prediction
We suspect Guardiola may keep his cards close to his chest when it comes to injury updates on Friday. But given how efficiently his side eased past Wolves, the City boss may be tempted to stick with the same XI although Rayan Cherki could force his way in after his goal off the bench.
Tottenham XI to face Man City – Metro prediction
Dominic Solanke will be pushing for a starting role but after his double against Burnley, Richarlison will fancy his chances of keeping his place.
In midfield, the experienced Joao Palhinha could come in after making his debut off the bench last weekend.
Man City vs Tottenham TV channel and kick-off time
Man City vs Tottenham kicks off on Saturday 23 August with kick-off scheduled for 12:30pm.
You can watch the match live on TNT Sports 1 with streaming also available through the Discovery+ app
You can also follow all the action with Metro’s LIVE match day blog.
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