Premier League preview: Manchester City v Tottenham

Manchester City will be hoping to capitalise on Tottenham’s patchy form in the Premier League when they welcome them to Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

After a promising start, Spurs have been lacklustre in their last two domestic fixtures, going down 2-1 to Norwich in the League Cup before losing 1-0 at home to Wigan in their last league match.

But Andre Villas-Boas’ men bounced back to form on Thursday with a 3-1 over Maribor in the Europa League, and they will enter the match with a bit of confidence on the back of that win.

Roberto Mancini’s City team, meanwhile, have stumbled in recent matches themselves – with their last outing in the league resulting in a 0-0 draw at West Ham before they were forced to come from 2-0 down to salvage a 2-2 draw with Ajax in the Champions League on Tuesday.

City sit in third place in the Premier League table, just two points behind leaders and bitter rivals Manchester United, while Spurs are in sixth spot, five points behind City ahead of Sunday’s match.

Mancini has a few fitness concerns, with Joleon Lescott (back) and James Milner (hamstring) the latest to be added to an injury list that already includes David Silva (hamstring), Jack Rodwell (hamstring), Micah Richards (knee) and Maicon (foot).

Silva and Rodwell look the most likely to be able to resume from that group for the Spurs clash.

Tottenham also have injury worries to contend with, as a host of first-choice players battle their way back to full fitness.

Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto have been out since early on the campaign with knee complaints, while Belgian midfielder Moussa Dembele looks set to miss another week with a hip problem.

Scott Parker is yet to play for Spurs this term after picking up an Achilles tendon injury on his team’s pre-season tour of the USA, and Sandro is fighting a calf problem to be fit for the trip to Manchester.