Tottenham Hotspur return to Premier League action this afternoon and will be desperate to avoid a four-match skid, though Manchester City stand in the way of a return to form.
Pep Guardiola's outfit welcome Spurs to the Etihad Stadium as they look to return to winning ways themselves after drawing successive matches to Chelsea and Liverpool, but injury-hit Tottenham will have their work cut out if they are to return to London with a positive result.
While Postecoglou started emphatically after arriving in the summer, injuries and suspensions have ravaged the early-stage purple patch, with the threadbare squad impacted further by Rodrigo Bentancur's ankle injury against Aston Villa on Sunday after a reckless lunging challenge from Matty Cash.
With the Uruguayan now facing a spell on the sidelines having only just returned from a lengthy ACL layoff, it's likely that Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg will return to the starting XI.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg's season in numbers
Hojbjerg has only started twice in the Premier League this season but has played at least 45 minutes across Tottenham's past three outings, replacing Bentancur in the first half during the home loss against Villa.
Perhaps a little conservative on the ball, the experienced Dane is still a "monster" in the middle – as has been said by compatriot Morten Bisgaard – and given the task of stifling Manchester City's threat, his presence could be vital.
Player
Club
Federico Valverde
Real Madrid
Joshua Kimmich
Bayern Munich
Pedri
Barcelona
Nicolo Barella
Inter Milan
Frank Anguissa
Napoli
*Sourced via Football Transfers
As per FBref, the £100k-per-week machine ranks among the top 15% of midfielders across Europe's top five leagues for pass completion, the top 11% for passes attempted and the top 19% for progressive passes per 90, evidencing the composure in possession and tenacity in his defensive duties that could prove pivotal against the Citizens.
At his core, Hojbjerg is an industrious player with intelligence and positional security; he will keep things tidy, providing exciting Spurs' attacking options with the stability to tear open pockets of space – City are frightening, but they are not unstoppable and chinks in their armour have been found over the past few months.
Eric Dier must start vs Manchester City
While Hojbjerg could instil resilience and balance in the centre of the park, it's equally important that Postecoglou consider dropping Emerson Royal from the central defence and replacing him with Eric Dier, whose Spurs career is dwindling to a close.
Dier, aged 29, has been something of a stalwart for Spurs and has amassed 362 appearances in total, but he has only made two appearances this season – called upon to start against Wolverhampton Wanderers with both Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero unavailable.
Out of contract at the end of the campaign, Dier's chances of extending look more tenuous by the week, but with Romero still suspended this weekend Postecoglou must consider dropping Emerson.
Quite simply, if Spurs field a back-four without a single senior centre-back, as was the choice last weekend, City could capitalise on a lack of height and positional awareness; Ben Davies has performed well across recent matches, to his credit, but Emerson won just one duel, made no tackles and was dribbled past against Unai Emery's team, as per Sofascore.
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Standing at 6 foot 2, Dier ranks among the top 11% of centre-backs for aerial wins and the top 15% for blocks per 90, which could be vital in combining with Davies' skill set at the back.
It's really not ideal, with the whole quandary only punctuating the need for reinforcements in January, but Dier is experienced and was noted for his "superb" defensive efforts at Molineux by football.london's Alasdair Gold earlier this month. He has to start.