Early Man City v Tottenham team news: Eight doubts and four out - plus Erling Haaland latest

Erling Haaland could be an option for Manchester City when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur next week.

The striker hasn’t featured since the 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on 6 December and has missed nine games as the result of a foot injury.

Pep Guardiola had said in early January that he hoped Haaland could be back for matches against Huddersfield Town and Newcastle United, but the Norwegian missed both games. Guardiola then revealed last week that Haaland suffered a setback on his recuperation, but would hopefully begin training again in Abu Dhabi this week.

“A little bit of disturbing problems in his feet,” explained the City boss. “It’s fine. The doctors decided to stop for one week and maybe restart in Abu Dhabi. 

“Hopefully at the end of this month he’ll be ready. It was a little bit more than we expected in the beginning. It’s a bone, it needs time. Every injury you can do whatever you want but it’s a question of time.”

He also confirmed Manuel Akanji might miss the Spurs game and the home match against Burnley on 31 January. 

“Manu is injured. An action against Huddersfield, he will be some weeks out. It’s not a big problem but until the end of the month. I don’t know [if he’ll be back] against Spurs or Burnley.”

John Stones is a third doubt ahead of the game and the defender has not played since picking up a knock in the win over Everton on 27 December, while Ederson has been seen back in training after he was forced off in the early stages of last week's game at St James' Park.

Kevin De Bruyne could also be line for his first start since recovering from a hamstring injury, and the Belgian has come off the bench in the last two games.

As for Spurs, reports this week suggested James Maddison and Manor Solomon could return for the FA Cup fourth-round tie. The pair have been out for two and four months respectively, but could be options again for Ange Postecoglou.

Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr will probably miss out for Tottenham, with both players at the Africa Cup of Nations. The midfielders could technically be involved if Mali or Senegal were to be eliminated from the competition before next Friday’s game, although that looks unlikely. Heung min-Son is in a similar position at the Asia Cup, but given South Korea play at 6:30am on Thursday, it’s almost impossible he will feature for Spurs against City.

Dane Scarlett missed the 2-2 draw against Manchester United with a knock and could be back, but Ben Davies, Giovani Lo and Alejo Veliz will miss out through injury.

Doubts: Stones, Akanji, Haaland (City); Bissouma, Sarr, Maddison, Solomon, Scarlett (Spurs). Ruled out: Davies, Lo Celso, Son, Veliz (Spurs).