Pep Guardiola has stated that Phil Foden is back in contention for Sunday’s Premier League encounter with Tottenham Hotspur.

Foden has not featured since picking up a foot injury in the January defeat at Manchester United but the boss believes he is nearing a return.

“Yes I think so,” said Guardiola when asked if Foden could be available this weekend.

“He has trained well these last two days.”

Spurs v City | Match preview

However, it was less positive news about John Stones, who the boss believes could be out for up to a month.

The England defender was substituted in the first half of last week’s FA Cup fourth round victory over Arsenal with a hamstring injury.

“Three weeks, one month, more or less,” said Guardiola in response to a question about Stones’ potential return to first-team action.

Spurs manager Antonio Conte will not be at Sunday’s clash after having gallbladder removal surgery earlier this week.

Guardiola took this opportunity to wish his counterpart well before analysing the impact he has in the technical area.

“Antonio is active on the touchline, he guides really well the team,” he said.

“There are a lot of patterns the players know exactly. He can come back in his position.”

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The Blues are yet to score in four matches at Spurs’ new stadium since its opening in 2019.

Guardiola believes the reason City have struggled in North London is simple.

“They were better than us,” he said.

“I have the feeling always when we were there that we played decent games. They have the quality to punish you. They are a tough opponent.

“Maybe they haven’t won titles but they are always in the Champions League and challenging for the top four.”

Spurs v City

City travel to Tottenham on Sunday for a 16:30 kick-off and you can follow the game across mancity.com and our official app.

We will start live updates at 14:30 on our Matchday Centre and that will run throughout the afternoon.

Our Matchday Live programme will begin shortly before team news arrives at 15:30. Natalie Pike will be in the studio with Joleon Lescott and Steph Houghton to give you a City-centric view on events in North London.

During the game, Alistair Mann and Michael Brown will talk you through proceedings with our radio commentary offering.

Afterwards, we will bring you all the reaction from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before short highlights are available at 20:15 and extended highlights from midnight.

CITY+ subscribers can watch the entire 90 minutes back from midnight.