Erling Haaland has returned to Manchester City's starting lineup for tonight's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur in North London.
Haaland has missed the Citizens' last two matches with a knee injury and Pep Guardiola confirmed at his pre-match press conference that a final decision on the striker's availability would be made on Tuesday night after first-team training.
The Norwegian has now been passed fit to not only return to the matchday squad, but start up front for Man City, with Guardiola making a total of four changes to the side that lost 2-0 at home to Liverpool last weekend.
While goalkeeper Ederson retains his place between the sticks, Matheus Nunes and Ruben Dias return in defence at the expense of Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake, joining Abdukodir Khusanov and Josko Gvardiol in the first XI.
Mateo Kovacic is handed his first start in any competition for three-and-a-half weeks and will partner Nico Gonzalez in midfield, while both Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne drop down to the substitutes' bench.
In attack, Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush all retain their places, with the latter set to operate centrally in behind Haaland up front.
© Imago
Son, Kulusevski benched as Maddison, Odobert both start
As for Tottenham, Ange Postecoglou has made a total of three changes to the side that beat Ipswich Town 4-1 at Portman Road last time out.
Pedro Porro, once on the books at Man City, is recalled to start at right-back, with Djed Spence making way as Destiny Udogie continues at left-back. Archie Gray and Kevin Danso, meanwhile, remain in the heart of defence.
James Maddison scored twice in Tottenham's 4-0 victory at Man City earlier this season and he returns to the first XI as captain, partnering Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall in centre-midfield.
Dejan Kulusevski will therefore begin tonight's match among the substitutes, as will Son Heung-min who has been replaced by Wilson Odobert, who is handed his first Spurs start since September 1 last year after a lengthy spell out injured.
Odobert will join Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson in attack, the latter of whom is Tottenham's top scorer this term with 14 goals and most recently netted a brace against Ipswich last weekend.
Meanwhile, Timo Werner has returned to the matchday squad for the first time since Spurs' FA Cup third-round win over non-league Tamworth last month after recovering from injury.
Tottenham Hotspur starting lineup: Vicario; Porro, Danso, Gray, Udogie; Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison; Johnson, Tel, Odobert
Subs: Kinsky, Spence, Reguilon, Sarr, Bissouma, Son, Kulusevski, Werner, Scarlett
Manchester City starting lineup: Ederson; Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Gonzalez, Kovacic; Savinho, Marmoush, Doku; Haaland
Subs: Ortega, Ake, Grealish, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Lewis, McAtee
Oliver Thomas
