Man City v Tottenham: Antonio Conte rules out two players & explains how to beat Pep Guardiola

Antonio Conte has confirmed Eric Dier will be fit to face Manchester City on Saturday, but has ruled out two Tottenham Hotspur players ahead of the trip to the Etihad.

Dier has missed the last three games with a thigh problem, but will return in time for the clash with the champions.

It comes at a vital period for Spurs and Conte, who have been beaten in all of their last three league matches and have lost ground in the race for the top four.

Speaking in Friday’s press conference, the Italian said: “Dier is available, fit and ok. [Oliver] Skipp’s working, getting better but he’s not ready. [Japhet] Tanganga is the same.

“We have recovered Steven Bergwijn because three days ago he had a little problem in his calf but now he’s available. So only two players are not available for the game against City.”

How to beat City

Conte comes up against Guardiola for the first time since 2018, but he did enjoy some success against City during his time in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The 52-year-old beat Guardiola home and away in the league in 2016/17 and was the first coach ever to do the double over the ex-Barcelona boss.

But City are a much different and improved proposition this season, and Conte says his side will have to be ‘tactically perfect’ if they are to come away from the Etihad with all three points.

“It’ll be an interesting game for us. But I don’t think that it’s right to consider it a special game because there are the best coaches in the world [in the dugouts],” Conte told reporters, when asked about facing one of the top managers in world football.

“It’s a game between two teams, one team that’s maybe the best in the world and almost perfect. They’re in a fantastic period of form. That’s one side.

“On the other side is a team trying to build something important for the future. At this moment, two different levels. At the same time, we prepared the game very well.

“We know that tomorrow we’re going to suffer. We know very well that problem tomorrow, like in every game, Manchester City will keep the ball for 70-80 percent. But at the same time in the other 20 percent we have to be good, be effective, attack in the right way and when they have the ball, be compact and tactically perfect.

“If you want a good result against Manchester City, you have to be perfect at the moment. You have to know you have to suffer as a team, to find the situations to try to hurt them.”