Manchester City appear to have been handed a significant boost as four key players returned to training ahead of the weekend clash with Tottenham.
The reigning Premier League champions have been battling an ongoing injury crisis of late that has been a major factor behind a huge slump in form that has seen them lose four consecutive matches across all competitions for the first time since 2006.
It is the single worst run of Pep Guardiola’s illustrious managerial career and has seen them fall five points behind top-flight pacesetters Liverpool as well as slipping down to 10th in the new-look Champions League standings and exit the Carabao Cup at the last-16 stage at the hands of Tottenham.
City face a swift reunion with Spurs at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening as the Premier League resumes and the club’s nightmare injury situation looks to be finally improving ahead of that showdown.
According to Fabrizio Romano and pictures posted by the club, all of Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji were taking part in training on Wednesday.
De Bruyne has made only two late substitute cameos in the defeats by Sporting Lisbon and Brighton since returning from two-and-a-half months out with a thigh issue, but will hope to play a more prominent role against Tottenham having made himself unavailable for struggling Belgium’s recent Nations League double-header against Italy and Israel.
He was joined in action at the Etihad Campus on Wednesday by John Stones, who has missed the last three matches with a foot problem and played no part for England in their final matches under Lee Carsley against Greece and the Republic of Ireland as they secured promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League.
Also back in training was Stones’ centre-back colleague Manuel Akanji, boosting an uncharacteristically leaky defence that has conceded 10 goals during the course of those four successive losses.
Akanji withdrew from the Switzerland squad for games against Serbia and Spain after a groin issue, but appears to have now shaken off the injury.
Grealish, meanwhile, has not played for City since the dramatic 2-1 win at Wolves on October 20 and his initial call-up to the latest England squad prompted an exasperated response from Guardiola.
City will hope to have all four players available to play some part against Tottenham, while it remains to be seen if any of their other injured stars will be in contention for the weekend.
Phil Foden also withdrew from the latest England squad with a knock, while Jeremy Doku pulled out of the Belgium squad with a thigh problem and Ruben Dias has not played since the Carabao Cup defeat to Spurs due to a calf problem that stopped him joining up with Portugal.
Matheus Nunes and Nathan Ake have also been dealing with injuries of late, while Oscar Bobb is not expected to return from surgery on a fractured leg until the New Year.
Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is still months away from returning from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, though has insisted that he hopes to play again this season.
