Pep Guardiola delivers Jack Grealish fitness update ahead of Man City v Tottenham

Pep Guardiola has said Jack Grealish is fit to face Tottenham Hotspur this weekend and could make his first appearance in over a month for Manchester City.

The winger last played for City in the 2-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on 20 October, but missed the subsequent six games due to an injury he picked up the following day in training.

He was controversially called up to the England squad for last week’s games, much to the annoyance of Guardiola, but Grealish dropped out and returned to City at the start of the international break.

He has since been training and was pictured in Wednesday’s session at City’s CFA training base, which is a huge boost for Guardiola with Jeremy Doku an injury doubt and Oscar Bobb ruled out for at least another few months.

“He has trained two days together and he has trained good,” Guardiola said after confirming Grealish is fit once again.

The City boss was also asked about the confusion surrounding Grealish’s England call-up, with Lee Carsley refuting Guardiola’s claim that his medical team did not contact City’s before selecting the former Aston Villa star.

“I want the best for Jack and I want the best for Jack with the national team,” he explained. “The doctor said to me that he is not ready to play. Before Brighton, the doctor said to me he is not ready to play.

“I believe my doctors. Why? Because every single day they are there. I know people from England, I have a top relationship with England so it is not about that.

“I know they want him but they have 200 players to select. And Jack was not fit. He had to recover from many things. It was a long time. He has to recover because I need him.

“And if he plays good here, he will go with Thomas [Tuchel]. If you don’t perform well here, you won’t go with the national team.You have to be fit, you have to rest, and after that, for the quality you have, you go immediately.”

The subject of selecting City players to play for England was a recurring theme of Friday’s press conference, with Guardiola frustrated that youth-team defender Max Alleyne returned to the club with an injury after training with both the Under-21 and Under-20 squads.

Kyle Walker’s selection to start both England matches over the break was also slightly controversial given he has been struggling with fitness issues in recent weeks, although Guardiola said he didn’t have a problem with that.

“If he [Walker] is fit, I like him to play in the national team. It is not a problem, don’t misunderstand me. I want Jack to go to the national team, I want Kyle to go to the national team, I want Max Alleyne to go to the national team.

“Never ever in my life have I told a player not to go to the national team but if you are not fit, if you cannot play here, you cannot play for the national team. It is quite obvious.

“Kyle has a dream to make 100 caps for the national team. Do I want to cancel this dream? Absolutely not. I would love that and I understand it. But I don’t want them to play when they are not in the right conditions.”