Tottenham Hotspur travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday for a Premier League title defining encounter.
Yes, the Spurs are well and truly in the mix after flying under the radar this season.
All the talk has centred squarely on Leicester City, however, Mauricio Pochettino and his young group of players are just five points from the summit and capable of pulling off a shock triumph themselves.
With so much on the line, we reached out to Alex Timperley from Manchester City blog Typical City and Dan Fitch from Tottenham Blog.
Outside90: What’s your favourite City vs Tottenham clash of all time?
Timperley: After seeing Spurs beat City over and over again as a kid, there are now a surprising amount of good moments to choose from. I could go for that time Peter Crouch scored an own goal to secure City’s Champion’s League qualification, the time Mario Balotelli scored a last second penalty to win a controversial game. I could further back to the time a 10-man City came from three goals down to win in the FA Cup.
Fitch: I grew up watching Ricky Villa’s famous goal in the 1981 FA Cup final but was too young to actually remember the match. In more recent times our 1-0 win at the Etihad in 2010 takes some beating. Crouch scored the winning goal which secured our first (and so far, only) appearance in the Champions League.
The other that stands out is one from White Hart Lane a few years back. Before the Oasis split, Liam Gallagher suddenly appeared in one of the corporate boxes and was flicking us the fingers, swaggering around, while we hurled abuse at him. He was laughing and clapping us as we chanted “You’re just a s**t Chas & Dave”, before giving it large after a City goal, resulting in him being sent indoors by the stewards.
O90: How would you sum up City/Tottenham fans?
Timperley: Spurs fans are generally sound. They know what it’s like to have an obnoxious neighbour who thinks they are god’s gift to creation. They have been through some s**t recently (Tim Sherwood, for instance) which has kept them grounded. The very good team and manager they currently have doesn’t seem to have gone to their heads. They are just enjoying it, honestly and enthusiastically.
On the other hand, their fan base has a more vocal strain of UKIP style intolerance and it needs to be rooted out. The collection of grown adults who recently had a good cry in public because the club were ok with an LGBT flag inside the stadium were total embarrassment. It’s 2016 and they need to grow up.
Fitch: While Chelsea’s billionaire-funded success has been a dagger to my heart, I’ve felt it hard to begrudge City fans’ their moment in the sun. They’ve had some really tough times, yet stayed loyal throughout. What’s more, they seem to still have the anarchic streak running through their fan base that was prevalent during the bad old days when laughing at their troubles was the best solution.
O90: Which current City/Tottenham player do you rate the most and why?
Timperley: This is a tough call as they have a lot of talent. Going to have to be unoriginal here and go for Harry Kane. I was firmly in the “wait and see” camp after his first season. Consistently performing at the top level separates the good from the great. And in case that sounds too grand, I watch Sergio Aguero every week and have done for years now – I know what a great striker looks like.
Fair to say, this season he has been as good if not better.
Fitch: David Silva is a joy to watch but it’s hard to look past Sergio Aguero. When fit and on form he is the best player in the Premier League by a mile.
O90: Which current City/Tottenham player do you loathe and why?
Timperley: Who I think is overrated is probably a better question. Spurs have a lot of talent, but it tends to be over exaggerated by their fans.
Fitch: I’m not a great Yaya Toure fan. I admire him as a player but he seems to have lost the plot and let it all go to his head.
O90: What do you rate your season out of 10 so far and why?
Timperley: It has been a very 6/10 season. Not bang average, but not up to the heights of an above average score. Get to the quarter-finals of the Champion’s League for the first time around the same time we win the League Cup and it gets bumped up.
Fitch: It can only be a 10. I wasn’t expecting Spurs to break into the Champions League places this season, so to be in with a shout of winning the Premier League is amazing. We’ve got a lot of young, local talent in the squad and it’s clear that they really care.
O90: Which areas of the pitch should City/Tottenham look to strengthen?
Timperley: We need a better manager. The most infuriating thing about Pellegrini is that he makes the same mistakes over and over again. There’s a theory floating around the City fanbase that Pellegrini sends out the best XI players available at the time but doesn’t consider the opposition’s strengths at all. Luckily, City have fixed this area.
Other than that, we need to sort the defence out this summer. Whether that is finally getting Vincent Kompany fit, or making the decision that we cannot build the defence around him anymore. In addition, the four senior fullbacks currently have a combined age of over 120 years. This is a nonsense and will need to be remedied.
Fitch: It’s not so much on the pitch that needs to be strengthened, but the bench. Eric Dier and Harry Kane don’t really have cover, so that needs to be the priority in the summer.
O90: What formation/starting XI should City/Tottenham field on Sunday?
Timperley: City have so many injuries at the moment that the team basically picks itself. The only real conundrums are in defence and up top. I would go for Aguero and Iheanacho, but they will both have to work very hard. In defence it all depends on Kompany being fit. If he isn’t I would be tempted to play Bacary Sagna instead of Martin Demichelis.
Fitch: It’ll be the normal 4-2-3-1. I would go for Lloris – Walker, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Davies – Dier, Dembele – Lamela, Eriksen, Alli – Kane
O90: Score prediction for Sunday?
Timperley: Spurs to win by two goals. Call it a 4-2 win for Spurs.
Fitch: I think I’d be more confident if City hadn’t just been hammered by Leicester. I can’t go against us in our current form, so I’ll opt for an entertaining 2-2 draw.
O90: Where will City finish come season’s end and where will Tottenham finish?
Timperley: I’ve been saying that Spurs will finish third since September and wish I had put money on it back then. City will finish second unless Leicester blow it at the last. Though I haven’t yet read a single sensible reason why they will slip up.
Fitch: Fixture congestion might be our downfall, so I’ll say third for Spurs. City should be walking this league but I can’t see past Leicester now, so they’ll be runners-up again.
O90: Provide one-word answers when you hear these words:
Timperley:
Kane – Legit.
Dele Alli – Intriguing.
Pochettino – Good.
Eriksen – Overrated.
Adebayor – Misunderstood.
Fitch:
Aguero – Deadly.
Sterling – Expensive.
Pellegrini – Nice.
Silva – Magician.
Adebayor – Toxic.
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