The Brazilian retakes his place at centre-half, with Ederson and Oleksandr Zinchenko also coming back into the side at the expense of Claudio Bravo, Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva.
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Aymeric Laporte will not be involved in North London.
The Frenchman has missed our last two games due to fatigue since making his comeback from injury against Sheffield United and Pep Guardiola has decided not to risk him today, with Benjamin Mendy and John Stones also not having travelled.
That means the rest of today’s line-up is the same as the one that started against Manchester United in midweek.
Teams
CITY: Ederson, Walker, Otamendi, Fernandinho (C), Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Sterling, Mahrez, Aguero.
SUBS: Bravo, Cancelo, Garcia, Silva, Foden, Bernardo, Jesus.
SPURS: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Tanganga, Winks, Alli, Lo Celso, Son, Bergwijn, Moura.
SUBS: Gazzaniga, Vertonghen, Lamela, Dier, Sessegnon, Ndombele, Fernandes.
Possible formation and tactics: 4-3-3
City’s tactical fluidity has meant predicting our formation has become a tricky task in recent weeks, with Guardiola switching between a four and three-man defence.
It looks like we’ll line-up in a 4-3-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Ederson’s goal will be protected by Walker, Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi and Zinchenko.
Rodrigo will sit at the base of midfield, with Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne ahead of him in the engine room and tasked with releasing the front three of Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero.
The Argentine will, of course, play through the middle, with Mahrez on the right and Sterling on the left.
Facts and stats
- City are on a five match unbeaten run in the Premier League.
- We are unbeaten in six Premier League games against Spurs (won 4, drawn 2), with our last defeat coming at White Hart Lane in October 2016.
- Six of our last 10 matches have seen over 3.5 goals.
- We have won 11 of our last 12 Premier League matches in London, with the exception a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea in December 2018.
- We have scored in each of our last 23 Premier League away matches since losing at Chelsea in December 2018. Only Arsenal (27 in November 2002) and Manchester United (24 in August 2002) have enjoyed longer runs in the competition’s history.
- De Bruyne averages an assist every 180 minutes in the Premier League - the best such ratio in the competition’s history (minimum 20 assists).
