The 12 players that could miss Man City v Tottenham Hotspur this weekend

Tottenham Hotspur will look to bounce back from two disappointing defeats against Galatasaray and Ipswich Town as the international break draws to a close but a tricky trip to Champions Manchester City is far from the easiest way to achieve a return to form.

Pep Guardiola's side are enduring somewhat of a bumpy patch at the moment. The Cityzens were beaten by AFC Bournemouth and Brighton in their last two matches before the break and are already five points behind league leaders Liverpool. Ange Postecoglou will also seek inspiration from his side's 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup at the end of October.

Tottenham take ‘appropriate steps’ with Van de Ven

Spurs will be without Micky van de Ven on Saturday evening as he continues to work his way back from a hamstring injury. Postecoglou said: "It's fair to say we're taking all the appropriate steps, and Micky will be a good judge of that as well, and where he's at.

"We're trying to treat it as it is, with advice from the medical team and the people working with him. I think there is always a natural cautiousness with someone who has a recurring problem, but at the same time, you don't want to treat him with kid gloves, because he's got to go out there and play at some point."

The Aussie coach also provided an update on Brazilian forward Richarlison, who picked up a hamstring problem against Aston Villa earlier this month, and Mikey Moore, who missed the last two fixtures with a virus.

Postecoglou said: "Richy, hopefully he'll be back in the New Year but, again, similar to Micky, we've got to be careful every step of the way. Mikey will be still be out for a little bit of time as well. He was hit pretty badly by the virus, because he's young as well, we have to be careful. He's back in the building, but we're going to take out time with him."

Cristian Romeo is also set to miss out against Manchester City but is expected to be back for Fulham next weekend. Wilson Odobert has a hamstring injury and Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended.

Manchester City dealt fresh injury blow

The hosts have an even bigger list of injury worries than Tottenham Hotspur with the absence of Mateo Kovacic a headline. The midfielder picked up an injury while away on international duty with Croatia and could face a month on the sidelines.

Guardiola said: "Kovacic is injured. It will be a while, three weeks or a month. John [Stones], Manu [Akanji] trained good yesterday. Nathan [Ake] is coming back training. We had no central defenders, now we have three. Just Ruben [Dias] is out but he is coming back soon. I don't know if they’re ready to play 90 minutes, but to see their faces in the training session is really good."

Phil Foden and Jack Grealish have also been pictured training this week as they nurse niggles. Matheus Nunes is also expected to be fit after a knock. Jeremy Doku has a quad injury having missed the Brighton game and withdrew from the Belgium squad for the break.

Guardiola recently said: "He [Doku] has some muscular problems in his quadriceps. He doesn’t feel good, he cannot run at full speed. [After the international break?] When we arrive, we will make a test, and we’ll make a selection, and we’ll see how they feel.”

Oscar Bobb has a fractured leg and is a long term absentee who won't play again until 2025, neither will Rodri with his knee injury.