Manuel Pellegrini has been boosted by the return of captain Vincent Kompany ahead of Manchester City’s Saturday lunchtime trip to White Hart Lane to face Tottenham Hotspur.
This will provide a boost to a City side which has now conceded five goals in their last three league and cup matches, having let in just two in their previous nine.
While the Chilean does have a number of injuries to deal with, he also believes that Sergio Aguero is back to 100% fitness ahead of the game.
“At this moment, [Eliaquim] Mangala, [Gaël] Clichy, [Fabian] Delph, [David] Silva, [Wilfried] Bony and Kelechi [Iheanacho] are the six players injured,” he said.
“Kompany, [Joe] Hart and [Samir] Nasri are back.
“It’s important to have Vincent back. He’s just recovering, he’s the captain and he played very well at the start of the season.
“Maybe after his injury – against West Ham, Aguero wasn’t 100% but now I believe he is. He’s an important player.”
The Argentine has an incredible record against Tottenham, having scored ten goals in seven Premier League games against Spurs, his highest goal tally against any club in the competition, and will look to add to his solitary goal of the season at White Hart Lane.
Manchester City overall have a great record against the North London club, and have won eight of the last nine league meetings.
City have also been in incredible goal scoring form against Tottenham, having scored 27 goals in their last eight league games against Spurs at an average of 3.4 a game.
Pablo Zabaleta is another who returns to the squad for City this weekend, after being out for five weeks with damaged knee ligaments, and he has been pleased with what he’s seen so far this season.
“As frustrating as it is to be out, I’ve really enjoyed watching the team from the stands,” the Argentinian right-back said.
“I only ever want the lads to do well – the team is far more important than individuals and they started the season fantastically well.
“We had a couple of losses recently but we had a great reaction in midweek at Sunderland and now we go into a very difficult game at Tottenham but hopefully we can carry the momentum from Tuesday’s game and come away with a win.”
“Overall, it’s been a fairly good ground for us in recent seasons and we hope it proves to be the same again on Saturday.”
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