Match Preview – Manchester City Vs. Tottenham Hotspur

In a match between two of last season’s top three, Manchester City and Tottenham face-off in one of the marquee match-ups of the season.

Just one week into the season, the public gets treated to one of the marquee matches of the season in Saturday’s tilt between Manchester City and Tottenham.

Last season, City took the season series with a pair of two one-nil victories over Spurs last season on route to the Premier League title. However, Tottenham was able to get the last laugh as they eliminated the Citizens in a memorable clash in the Champions League semi-finals, denying City the one title that they want the most.

Both Spurs and City got their season off to a strong start with victories in their opening fixtures. Tottenham got off to a slow start against Aston Villa last week but found their attack late in the match, notching three goals in the final 23 minutes to get their first three points on the season. Meanwhile, City got off to a roaring start with a five goal thrashing of West Ham.

Team news

Manchester City will look to have much of the same starting eleven that featured in last week’s dominant performance against the Hammers. Fernandinho and newly signed Joao Cancelo are likely to be sidelined due to match fitness, but the Etihad will likely see the season premiere of Sergio Aguero, who rested last week but should be match ready for this week’s high stakes match.

For Tottenham, they will be missing key match influencers due to either suspension or injury. Spurs will have to be without the services of both Heung-min Son, who is serving the final match of a three match ban for a red card from last season’s finale against Bournemouth and Dele Alli, who is still working his way back from a thigh injury.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on the prospects of Tottenham this week and his team’s level of sharpness last week against West Ham:

“Next week we have Tottenham at home, they are a top, top side and it is important for us to be focused. You can listen, you can read whatever you want but I have the truth and I know the position of the team and a good result isn’t going to change my opinion on what it was. Second half was much, much better but the first half we were way off where we want to be.”

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino on Christian Eriksen’s and Tottenham’s quality towards the end of their match against Aston Villa:

“Having Christian [Eriksen] fresh with the quality he has helped the team achieve the victory.

“In the second half we found different positions and the team started to be more relaxed and be more patient. We were very good. The second half with the same starting 11 in different positions we started to play.”

Head-to-head

While Manchester City have dominated the series in recent years, winning five out of the previous six fixtures against Spurs, they just barely lead the overall series, which stands at 63 wins for the Citizens, 61 for Tottenham and 35 draws.