Mateo Kovacic ruled out for a month after international duty with Croatia
Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 5.30pm, Saturday 23rd November 2024
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Tony Harrington Assistants: D Eaton, A Howson Fourth Official: S Allison VAR: D Coote
Odds: City 4/9, Draw 4/1, Spurs 9/2
Tickets: Sold out
TV: Sky Sports
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Ederson, Ortega, Carson, Walker, Stones, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Simpson-Pusey, Lewis, Grealish, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Nunes, Foden, McAtee, Haaland, Doku, Savinho
Injured: Rodri, Bobb, Kovacic, Dias
Doubtful: Doku, Nunes, Stones, Ake
Suspended: None
Form guide: LLLLW
Tottenham Hotspur
Manager: Ange Postecoglou
Squad (from): Vicartio, Forster, Austin, Dragusin, Udogie, Porro, Spence, Davies, Bissouma, Maddison, Gray, Bergvall, Kulusevski, Sarr, Son, Werner, Solanke, Johnson, Moore
Injured: van de Ven, Romero, Richarlison, Odobert
Doubtful: Werner
Suspended: Bentancur
Form guide: LLWWL
Mateo Kovacic is the latest City player to suffer an injury, with boss Pep Guardiola confirming that the Croatian midfielder could be out for a month.
There was, however, some brighter news with the return of John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake to help booster City's beleagured defence. Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku are also back in contention after training this week.
“Some of them [could be available], yes,” Pep Guardiola said at Friday's press conference.
“John trained good, Manu trained good. Nathan is coming back to training, so we didn’t have any centre-backs and now we have three.
“Ruben is out but hopefully back soon. Some players recover better.
“These 10 days some players recovered a little. I don’t know if they are ready to play 90 minutes or play from the beginning but to see the training session and see their faces was a really good boost for all of us.”
City drew their last home game against Tottenham 3-3, with goals from Phil Foden, jack Grealish and an own goal. Overall City have won 68 of the 172 games played against Spurs, with 37 draw and 67 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Gundogan, Silva, Foden, Grealish, Savinho, Haaland
Score prediction: City 2 Spurs 2