Six players hand Man City a problem Pep Guardiola was desperate to avoid

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola will be enthused at the sight of several sidelined stars returning to training this week.

The Blues have battled an injury crisis for much of the campaign and absentees have certainly contributed to the recent drop off in form which has seen City lose four matches on the bounce in all competitions.

But John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Matheus Nunes - who all pulled out of international action - trained this week as City prepare to welcome Tottenham to the Etihad on Saturday. Kevin De Bruyne, who asked not to be selected by Belgium after his fitness issues, has also been training during the international break.

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That is a welcome boost for Guardiola, who has been down to the bare bones in recent weeks, but the City chief was given another headache by some of those players away representing their countries.

Nine players were on international duty and Guardiola will no doubt have been hoping for his stars to have been used sparingly where possible given the European contingent were not involved in World Cup qualifiers.

Instead six of that cohort played more than 90 minutes including Kyle Walker, who has been playing through the pain barrier for his club in recent weeks and was injured on international duty earlier this season. Interim boss Lee Carsley opted to start the 34-year-old in both England matches and he played the full 90 against Greece and just over an hour against the Republic of Ireland.

Erling Haaland was afforded just seven minutes rest by Norway, although he plundered four goals in two games to help the Norwegians earn Nations League promotion. Josko Gvardiol, who has played more often than Guardiola would have liked this term due to injuries elsewhere in the backline, played two 90 minutes with his club and national team-mate Mateo Kovacic playing a full game and a half across the same fixtures.

Rico Lewis and Bernardo Silva featured in just one of two possible games, in moves Guardiola would have hoped to see used more widely, while Stefan Ortega didn't play a single minute for Germany.

But Ederson completed 180 minutes across two games with Savinho playing 139 minutes. Both were in action for Brazil and will be the last to report back to City with the full time whistle of their second qualifier only sounding in the early hours of Wednesday morning UK time.

In a season where City are set to play more matches than ever before, Guardiola will have hoped his international cohort could have been afforded a little more rest than they were given. With travel and fatigue a factor, combined with the stretched City squad and the risks attached to turning to those working their way back to fitness, the Etihad chief still faces plenty of selection questions ahead of a hectic winter period.