Tottenham Hotspur host Premier League leaders Manchester City in a fixture that has all the makings of a blockbuster encounter.
Albeit being undefeated, the Spurs’ home form to start the campaign has not been what they would have hoped for, after acquiring just one win, most recently against Crystal Palace and two draws against Stoke City and Everton respectively. The defence has been relatively solid in the early run, giving up more than one goal on only one outing to go along with three clean sheets. The main concern to Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be the sparse availability of goals, only netting five goals in the six games to start the season. So while keeping the backline rock solid, a more counter-attacking style will have to be implemented.
On the contrary, Manchester City have been deadly in front of goal this season, netting 12 times and only conceding twice, both at home in a 2-1 loss to West Ham last week. Since then, City prevailed in a 4-1 demolition of Sunderland during the third round of the League Cup. Their form in the last two games has been a bit shaky, with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst park where the Eagles had ample opportunity to score, but lost due to an opportunistic goal by the City teenager Iheanacho. The aforementioned 2-1 home loss to West Ham was the first time City had dropped points since the campaign began. Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping that a stronger showing against the ever-dangerous Tottenham is on the cards tomorrow night.
Key Battle – Sergio Aguero vs Tottenham’s back four
The equation is simple for Tottenham and that is to stop the deadly Sergio Aguero. That is much easier said than done, but the Argentine has scored 10 goals in seven games against the Spurs, at an average of a goal every 54.8 minutes. Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen will have to be at peak performance to stop the in-form Aguero.
What will make the job harder is the fact that Man City has come-off a home loss. Redemption seems as though it is in the air, with the Sky Blues creative outlets chomping at the bit to right the ship at White Hart Lane.
Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Yaya Toure will look to be the chief generators for Aguero and stopping that trio will be paramount to keeping the prolific striker quiet.
Team News
Having rested a number of key names for the midweek League Cup tie with Arsenal, Pochettino will have close to a full-strength squad to pick from. While Nabil Bentaleb remain sidelined with injury, but Ryan Mason should slot back into the midfield, with defenders Alderwiereld and Vertonghen tightening-up the defence.
Pellegrini has a few more issues in his squad to worry about, most notably surrounding the influential David Silva who is set to watch another match from the stands. Fans will be hoping to see captain Vincent Kompany back, yet Eliaqium Mangala and Samir Nasri will find it tough to break back into the starting XI given the nature of the midweek result.
Previous Meeting
Man City got one up on Tottenham in their last hit out, with Aguero again proving a thorn in the side, scoring the only goal at White Hart Lane. Joe Hart had a man of the match performance that day as City emerged 1-0 victors.
Prediction
Expect a tussle from the outset, but eventually the attacking prowess of Man City to trump the efforts of the desperate Spurs defence. Aguero again will prove to be the x-factor, netting two and maybe even assisting Kevin De Bruyne in a second-half burst.
On the other side, Harry Kane will look to get back to some form, needing to show his club and the whole football community that he is more than a one season wonder. Expect this to be entertaining and a free flowing affair.
Manchester City 3 Tottenham 1
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