Former Thai prime minister Thaksin is expected to jet back for the game after an extended stay in his homeland and has expressed concern over the way City have slumped out of the UEFA Cup places.

But Eriksson has an agenda of his own as he plans to meet Thaksin next Monday armed with a "very long" list of big name players he hopes to attract to Eastlands next season.

Eriksson said: "The chairman is coming on Sunday and I hope to meet him on Monday. Of course we are going to talk about this season but even more about next season."

City's failure to win in three matches since victory at Old Trafford has seen them drop to ninth place but Eriksson is refusing to give up on his side's chances of squeezing back into a European berth.

Eriksson added: "The most important thing at the moment is we don't give up and we go on fighting for every point we can bring in.

"Our problem in the last few games has been the last pass and not scoring any goals. The other problem is that we have conceded four easy goals.

"It's not Manchester City if you compare how we were early in the season. If you look at the statistics for possession and crosses and shots we are more or less the same as we were at the start."

Eriksson has injury concerns for the Tottenham clash with defender Richard Dunne a major doubt after requiring nine stitches in a shin injury sustained in last week's defeat to Reading.

Dunne has been training tentatively this week and his absence would be a major blow for Eriksson who is already without England defender Micah Richards, who is recovering from knee surgery.

Eriksson added: "We have very few options. We only have four defenders without Dunne. But the four defenders we have are good and I hope they can cope, and I think they can.

"If Richard can train tomorrow he might play but we are not sure about him. Today he was very sore after nine stitches. He has been running a bit but we will have to wait and see and assess him tomorrow."