Pep Guardiola confirms Manchester City quartet ruled out of Tottenham clash | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued an update on his squad’s fitness ahead of Saturday’s Premier League meeting with Tottenham.

City welcome the newly-crowned UEFA Europa League winners – who are interested in signing Savinho – to the Etihad Stadium in a long-awaited return of Premier League action to the Etihad Stadium this weekend.

The Blues made a strong start to their 2025-26 campaign at the Molineux Stadium last week as a brace from Erling Haaland and debut goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki secured a comfortable 4-0 victory over Wolves.

Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic are recovering from injuries last week, with Phil Foden and Rodri not forming part of the matchday squad against Wolves but still travelling with the Manchester City squad for the game.

Rodri suffered an injury setback at the FIFA Club World Cup in June and the Ballon d’Or holder is available for selection, though Guardiola will understandably be careful in re-integrating the 29-year-old back to the fold after his struggles with fitness over the last 12 months.

Mateo Kovacic underwent surgery on his Achilles days after the end of the 2024-25 campaign and it could be only after the September international break that the Croatia international returns to action for Manchester City.

Savinho and Ederson were also declared unfit for Wolves and missed the trip, with the Brazilian pair back in training ahead of Tottenham. Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Guardiola issued an update on the state of his squad’s fitness ahead of a juicy encounter with Tottenham on Saturday.

The Manchester City manager confirmed that Rodri and Foden are ready to face Tottenham, which could see the former line up alongside man-of-the-moment Reijnders, who ran the show in the opening win over Wolves last week.

“I just want a consistent Rodri, that’s all. I don’t have any doubts about his potential, quality – still, so far, he’s the best player in the world. In a few months, a new one (Ballon d’Or winner) will be elected, but still he (Rodri) is,” Guardiola said.

“I don’t have any doubts, just consistency; training, weeks, training, weeks, games, minutes, and after (that) – everything will be fine.”

Savinho, Kovacic, Gvardiol and third-choice goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli have been ruled out of the upcoming clash, which saw City suffer a 4-0 humiliation in last season’s fixture on the day that Rodri presented his Ballon d’Or to the Etihad Stadium.

Ederson is understood to have missed last week’s game with stomach problems but the 31-year-old is fit to face Tottenham and a decision on Manchester City’s starting goalkeeper will be made on Friday evening.