Tottenham boss Antonio Conte plans to pitch Eric Dier and Cristian Romero at the back against Manchester City.
Dier has played just twice this year due to a niggling thigh problem and has missed the last three matches, including the back-to-back home defeats to Southampton and Wolves.
"This is good news and important news for us," Conte said of Dier's impending return. “As you know very well Eric Dier is an important player for us as he has a strong personality, good quality and is strong physically. He is an important player for me.
“Tomorrow for the second time in the league since I arrived they are going to play together, Eric Dier and Romero. For one reason or another they were not able to start together. Tomorrow it will be a good game also because the game is difficult. And we need Eric to play and also Cristian."
Conte says his players must be prepared to make sacrifices without the ball against the runaway league leaders but insists they have a plan for hurting the champions after a week of thorough analysis.
“For sure when you play against Manchester City, you have to know that you will concede the ball and normally Manchester City finish the game with 65, 70, 75 per cent of possession," Conte said.
“They have been working for many years together and there are a lot of players with great quality. Also because, to have possession, it is important to have players with the quality of personality and they are working in a fantastic way.
“We want to try to have a good game. You have to know that you have to be available and sacrifice tomorrow with all the players, without the ball. But at the same time you have to have a plan when you have the ball to hurt them.
“And I think we have studied Man City very well. For sure for a big part of the match we will have to defend but at the same time you have to be humble that you have to play a game and pay great attention as they are in fantastic form.
“They won the last game 5-0 and they won the previous two games 4-0. They have the best defender and we are talking, I repeat, about a fantastic team. In the same way we want to play our game and try to get the best result as possible."
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