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Negredo set to feature against Tottenham

Alvaro Negredo has scored 23 goals this season © Getty Images

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Alvaro Negredo has been passed fit to return to the Manchester City team against Tottenham and will resume his prolific partnership with Sergio Aguero.

Negredo, who has scored 23 goals this season, missed Sunday's 4-2 FA Cup win over Watford with a shoulder injury sustained in the closing minutes of the 3-0 Capital One Cup win over West Ham last Tuesday.

And so he is set to start a league game alongside the 25-goal top scorer Aguero for the first time since December's 6-3 win over Arsenal.

The two forwards have only begun 12 games for City but have scored 25 goals between them in that time.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini confirmed: "Negredo is okay. He is in the squad list and has no problems."

Pellegrini had hoped he would not need Aguero for all of the Watford game but City trailed 2-0 at half-time before his hat-trick propelled them into a fifth round meeting against Chelsea.

But Pellegrini insisted the former Atletico Madrid forward is fine, adding: "He played without [any] problems for the 90 minutes and he is okay."

City are still without Samir Nasri, who has a knee injury, while fellow midfielders James Milner, who has a groin problem, and Javi Garcia, who has a minor knock, have also been ruled out of the trip to White Hart Lane. "Both of them are injured," Pellegrini said.

Pellegrini was disappointed with City's first-half performance against Watford, when the Championship team took a two-goal lead, and admitted: "Maybe in that match we couldn't have the motivation we needed."

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