Man City hit with injury blow to 'excellent' star ahead of Tottenham clash as injuries pile up

Manchester City have been handed another big injury blow ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham this weekend. City closed the gap to Arsenal to just four points over the weekend after beating Wolves and later watching Manchester United snatch three points against Arsenal.

Guardiola’s men will now feel they have a chance to making up the gap, especially after a bold January transfer window that has seen them sign Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, both of which are statement signings.

On Wednesday night, City progressed to the Round of 16 of the Champions League and without the need for a play-off, beating Galatasaray and seeing results elsewhere go their way. But the win did not come without a price, with Jeremy Doku, who was arguably the star of the show, having to leave the pitch early due to a calf injury.

Speaking after the game, Guardiola already had the early diagnosis, confirming that, barring any surprise, the winger would miss this weekend’s Tottenham clash and perhaps many more games.

"It's a big miss [once he goes off]. Jeremy is an important player for so many reasons. We'll see,” said the Spaniard. "Jeremy has had these muscular problems with the demands and his efforts. Hopefully in March he can be ready to help us. He was exceptional in Madrid and in Norway he could not play for the injury that everyone knows what happened in Old Trafford. Unfortunately he's not ready for a few more days."

City have a number of injury issues for their clash with Tottenham, but they will welcome back new signing Semenyo with fresh legs. The former AFC Bournemouth star was not able to be registered for the final Champions League league phase fixture, with the next registration period ahead of the knockout stages.

Guardiola on City’s win and Doku’s influence

Speaking about the game more generally, Guardiola said at full-time: “The first half was better than the second, but in the second half there were more chances than the first. A lot of things to improve. We’re really pleased to finish top eight considering how the Champions League has become. When I started 16 or 17 years ago, qualification was not as difficult.

“Today, every team is really, really tough, and I’m really pleased and hopefully we can arrive in March in our best. We started really well and had chances. We had no proper holding midfielders there. Jeremy and Omar were excellent, but we had incredible chances and maybe we [could have] needed more goals to qualify.

“But I’m really pleased because we have long weeks [until the Round of 16] and we need it. Not just that, that we’ve already qualified. Hopefully in that moment we can arrive better. Look how many incredible teams are out of the top 24 and how many are not in the top eight and still it’s the youngest team we have played in my years here in the Champions League. It’s a process to learn and hopefully Rodri, Marc and Semenyo will be back when we are there. That’s good news.”

Your next Tottenham read, Tottenham backed for 'amazing' PL striker transfer amid Muani update