Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Phil Foden will be available for Sunday’s Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur.
Due to a foot injury, the 22-year-old has missed the Citizens’ last two games against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal, the latter in the FA Cup.
Prior to City’s 1-0 win over Arsenal last Friday, Guardiola stated that Foden was “getting better,” but the England international was not deemed fit to play.
Nonetheless, Guardiola has since provided a positive update on Foden’s fitness ahead of City’s difficult match against Spurs in North London.
Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday that Foden is fit to play on Sunday “Yes, I believe so. He has worked hard the last two days.”
Foden had a strong start to the 2022-23 season, scoring seven goals and assisting three more in his first 12 appearances for City in all competitions.
However, the attacker was rotated in and out of the starting lineup shortly before the World Cup, and his game time has been limited since the tournament in Qatar, with the attacker scoring once and playing the full 90 minutes in only two of the last ten games in all tournaments.
While Foden hopes to regain his goal-scoring form this weekend, the Citizens will be without the services of defender John Stones, who could be out for up to a month with a hamstring injury.
The 28-year-old pulled up during City’s FA Cup victory over Arsenal, and Guardiola has since provided an update on when the centre-back may return to first-team action.
“Three weeks to a month [out], more or less,” Guardiola said. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of games. A lot of games irritate managers. It’s from the World Cup. He’ll be back in a few weeks.”
Stones has arguably been City’s most consistent defender this season, appearing in 18 games across all competitions, but Guardiola has a plethora of centre-back options who can fill in for the Englishman, including Manuel Akanji, Aymeric Laporte, Ruben Dias, and Nathan Ake.
Following the surprise departure of Joao Cancelo on deadline day, Ake is more likely to play at left back.
Guardiola cited a lack of first-team football since the World Cup as the reason for his decision to move to Germany for the remainder of the season.
Man City travel to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this weekend having failed to score in all four previous visits since the stadium’s opening in 2019.
The Citizens, on the other hand, made the net ripple four times against Spurs last month at the Etihad Stadium, coming from two goals down to win 4-2, and the reigning Premier League champions will hope to have more success in front of goal on Sunday as they try to close the gap on leaders Arsenal in the title race.
City, who are currently second in the table, could find themselves eight points behind Arsenal before kicking a ball on Sunday if Mikel Arteta’s side defeats Everton in Saturday’s lunchtime kickoff.
