Manchester City v Tottenham: Emmanuel Adebayor in line to make surprise Spurs return against old club

Emmanuel Adebayor is a contender to make a notable return to the Tottenham Hotspur side in their game at Manchester City tomorrow afternoon.

The striker has not played a single minute for Spurs this season, having only been an unused substitute in one Europa League game, but having started a behind-closed-doors game during the international break he is re-entering Andre Villas-Boas’s thoughts ahead of tomorrow’s match at the Etihad.

Roberto Soldado, the £26m summer arrival from Valencia, has not been an unambiguous success so far, with four Premier League goals, three of them penalties, while all of Jermain Defoe’s nine goals have come in the cups.

Adebayor has been returning to fitness over the last few months and is now under consideration for a start against his former club.

“We have two performing strikers at the moment in Soldado and Defoe,” Villas-Boas said last night. “Obviously Adebayor hasn’t had the chance to get back into the team yet. I am sure that whenever that happens he will perform as well as the other ones.The three of them are competing extremely well in training.”

Villas-Boas ruled out an imminent change to a 4-4-2 formation, meaning Adebayor will have to dislodge Defoe and Soldado if he is to start. “Our likely approach is to go with one up front. It’s a decision that I have to take. They are very near each other at the moment, and it could be a possibility that even Adebayor could play that game.

“We don’t have enough reasons at the moment not to trust Soldado and Defoe because they’ve been excellent, with great performances, goals and great goal tallies, so hopefully it’s a decision that’s best for the team and best for the strategy,” Villas-Boas added.

The Tottenham manager insisted that Adebayor is working hard in training and that there is no issue between the two of them.

“He is fighting for his opportunity and whenever that opportunity comes I think he will try to grab it with both hands. So I think that is a good positive sign for him,” said Villas-Boas, who has already been rewarded this season for his decision to trust Andros Townsend in August.

“The reality is that all three [strikers] have been training well. Sometimes you have to slot people in and wait for the opportunity. If it wasn’t like that we would never discover new players. With Andros it was more or less the case, we played him against Tbilisi, then threw him in against Swansea in the Premier League, where he did so well. It is a question of opportunity, and when that opportunity arises, making the most of it.”

Last season Adebayor played a big game against one of his former clubs, Arsenal, at the Emirates, and was sent off after 17 minutes, but Villas-Boas does not fear a repeat tomorrow. “It was not because he got influenced by the atmosphere,” he said. “Situations like that can happen for any player.”

Christian Eriksen is out for four weeks, so Lewis Holtby is likely to play in the “No 10” role for Spurs. Danny Rose is still injured, so Jan Vertonghen will continue at left-back.