- Oct 17, 2006
- 10,701
- 25,259
MAN CITY 3-0 SPURS
Rodrigo, Gundogan (2)
Rodrigo, Gundogan (2)
Spurs: Lloris (C), Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Hojbjerg, Ndombel (Dele)e, Lamela (Bale), Lucas (Sissoko), Son, Kane.
Subs: Hart, Alderweireld, Doherty, Winks,Bergwijn, Vinicius.
Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Bernardo, Sterling (C), Foden, Jesus.
Subs: Steffen, Walker, Dias, Aguero, Torres, Mendy, Mahrez, Garcia, Doyle.
Official Site Match Centre
Three changes to the team that started in the FA Cup at Everton on Wednesday night.
Harry Kane, who came off the bench at Goodison, is back in the starting XI, in place of Steven Bergwijn. Japhet Tanganga comes in for Matt Doherty, and will make his first appearance in the Premier League this season. Eric Dier is also back for Toby Alderweireld. Dele, who returned to action after injury at Everton and Gareth Bale, who missed out at Goodison, are both on the bench.
REFEREE: ------------- Paul Tierney ???????
TEAM FORM: -------- Man City - WWWWW ----- Spurs LLLWL ----- (All Competitions)
Saturday's battle represents the 163rd meeting between us in all competitions, and incredibly, we are both locked on 63 wins each, with the other 36 matches ending all square. Mourinho earned the bragging rights earlier in the season with a 2-0 triumph in the capital, with Son Heung-min and Giovani Lo Celso finding the back of the net in that meeting on November 21, but the we find ourselves 14 points behind them this fixture. However, we have only come out on top in one of our 11 trips to the Etihad Stadium in all competitions, and our most recent clean sheet on Man City's turf was back in the 2009-10 campaign. We are gearing up to meet a Man City side who are certainly regarded as the favourites for the big prize now. We endured contrasting fortunes in the FA Cup in midweek, with record-breaking Man City easing to a 3-1 at Swansea while we lost 5-4 at Everton after extra time
Breaking records is bread and butter for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City since the Spaniard took the hot seat back in 2016, and plenty may argue that it is now their title to lose amid an unparalleled winning run. A routine 3-1 triumph at Swansea City in the FA Cup, marked City's 15th win in a row across all competitions - a new record by a top-flight club in English football after Preston North End and Arsenal previously won 14 on the trot. Ten of City's 15 victories in this astonishing run have come in the Premier League, and with their title rivals faltering while they continue to go from strength to strength in the top flight, the Etihad faithful could be forgiven for planning ahead for a socially-distanced trophy parade.
However, titles are not won in February, and Guardiola will know that better than any other manager in the game. Even though City are five points clear of closest rivals Manchester United with a game in hand, it only takes a couple of underwhelming results for the season to be turned on its head, and Leicester City could temporarily reduce that gap to four points if they overcome Liverpool in another crunch match a few hours before.
Nevertheless, Guardiola will have every confidence in his ruthless charges to put us to the sword and extend their seemingly never-ending winning streak, as well as registering their 23rd match unbeaten across all competitions. Whisper it quietly, but an unprecedented quadruple is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, with City set to take on Borussia Monchengladbach in the Champions League last 16 on February 24, now that we are out of the FA Cup. Even with Aguero and De Bruyne - arguably their two most influential players - currently battling to overcome coronavirus and a hamstring problem respectively, City's remarkable squad depth has come to the fore this term. While their tally of 43 goals scored can be bettered by Man United (49) and Liverpool (44), 14 shipped at the other end is by far the fewest in the division. September's 5-2 thrashing at the hands of Leicester remains City's only home defeat in the league this term; since then they have won eight and drawn two in the league on home soil - keeping clean sheets in their last five - and no team in the top flight has managed to prevent Guardiola's men from finding the back of the net at the Etihad so far in the 2020-21 campaign.
On paper, we would be blown out of the water by Guardiola's merciless team, but the Man City treatment room welcomed a couple more crucial players in midweek, and Mourinho is one of a select few managers who knows how to get the better of his adversary. Mourinho opted to start Kane against West Bromwich Albion, and we won the game. Mourinho elected to start Kane on the bench against Everton, and his comments about the team being dependent on the Kane were proven right. Supporters can often be critical of all-Premier League ties in the FA Cup, but there was nothing boring about Wednesday's fiery encounter at Goodison Park, as a seven-minute flurry of goals from put Everton in control of the tie after Sanchez's opener, although Lamela did pull one back before the break. Mourinho had seen enough after 53 minutes and introduced Kane for Bergwijn, and after Sanchez and Richarlison had doubled their tallies, Kane headed home to take the game to extra time, but their efforts were futile as Bernard potentially revived his Everton career with the winner in the 97th minute.
We still have an EFL Cup final against Man City to look forward to, but a golden opportunity for silverware in the form of the FA Cup has now passed us for another season at least, while any aspirations of a Premier League title challenge have slowly faded since the delirium of topping the table after beating Guardiola's men in November. Having now lost four of our last five matches across all competitions - the outlier being last weekend's comfortable win over West Brom - We have slipped from the summit down to eighth in the table, and a chasm of 14 points separates us. However, Mourinho was determined to focus on the positives of Wednesday's cup exit, claiming that we played "amazingly well" with the ball, but seeing our defence breached five times when we did not have the ball is a real cause for concern before a daunting trip to the Etihad.
We must now turn our attention to the top-four battle rather than an audacious bid for title glory, and even though we have kept just one clean sheet in our last 7 Premier League outings, only 22 goals conceded is the second best in the league behind City. Following our historic 6-1 thrashing of Man United earlier in the campaign, we will be out to become the first team since Liverpool in 2008-09 to win away at both Manchester clubs in a top-flight season, and Mourinho has taken six points from a possible six against Man City since taking the reins at our Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Furthermore, Jose could set yet another individual record if we manage to defy the odds and end Man City's winning run, as a victory this weekend would see Mourinho become the first manager ever to win three away matches against Guardiola in all competitions - and with three different teams too, having previously managed away wins against him with Real Madrid and Man United in 2012 and 2018 respectively. A home victory at the Etihad Stadium would further cement City's position at the top of the pile, while a victory for us could throw the cat among the pigeons, but we would need to produce a Man City-esque winning run in the coming weeks to propel ourselves back into the title conversation.
Man City's victory at Swansea came at a cost as Rodri was forced off with 20 minutes remaining, although Guardiola has remained optimistic over the Spaniard's availability for the weekend. Fellow defensive midfielder Fernandinho could also be forced to sit this one out due to thigh problems, so Guardiola will be desperate to have one of the two available lest he risk sacrificing Gundogan’s 's attacking prowess by forcing him into the number 6 role. As mentioned, Aguero and De Bruyne are not ready to make their returns to action just yet, and they are joined on the sidelines by Nathan Ake - who has a muscular problem – while Laporte could start in defence once again if Ruben Dias does not overcome a fever in time. Further changes from the win over Swansea should see Cancelo, Ederson, Stones and Mahrez all return to the side, while Raheem Sterling may earn the nod over Foden up top after Guardiola was critical of his display as a false nine against Liverpool, although he did score the goal of the night when shifted out wide in the second period.
We welcomed Dele back to the fold from a tendon injury in midweek, but Bale was nowhere to be seen after suffering from muscular discomfort, and the Welshman's involvement in this game is also uncertain. Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso had "no chance" of facing Everton according to Mourinho, so the duo are almost certain to miss out here, and there are also question marks over the involvement of Aurier after he picked up a knock against West Brom. Mourinho opted to leave Kane and Vinicius out of the starting lineup against Everton, but the former will be back to lead the line here and link up with Son once more, and that prolific partnership will be key to any chances of victory for us this weekend. Sissoko and Winks will both look to return to the midfield, but most of our team whose efforts over 120 minutes on Wednesday counted for nothing are likely to line up at the Etihad.
Thanks for the Banner @chrissivad
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