Manchester City are taking on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League tomorrow as both teams look to bounce back from losses in their respective derbies. Pep Guardiola’s men suffered a shock defeat to Manchester United losing 2-1 on the night whilst Arsenal steamrolled Antonio Conte’s men 2-0 in the North London Derby. A win and three points from this game is very important to both sides for very different reasons.
TEAM NEWS
Manchester City
Man City have had their fair share of injury issues this season with most of them, unfortunately, coming in the centre-back area. The impressive duo John Stones and Ruben Dias both missed the derby and could be set to miss out yet again with this game coming too soon for either player.
Pep Guardiola will be happy that Aymeric Laporte is back though and could be handed a start alongside Manuel Akanji against Tottenham. Elsewhere, Man City are expected to have a clean slate when it comes to injuries except for this area
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs are also a club who have been very unfortunate with injuries to key players in recent times. Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison returned for the North London Derby and the former is expected to keep his starting place for the game.
Conte also confirmed recently that he expected Rodrigo Bentancur to be back for this game. Long-time absentee Lucas Moura will continue to be on the sidelines as he has been for almost the entirety of this season.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Pep Guardiola will no doubt be keen on bouncing back after back-to-back losses against Southampton in the Cup and Manchester United in the league. It is such a rare phenomenon for City to be through this and will be hoping to return to winning ways against Tottenham. Erling Haaland is going through a bit of a goal drought for his own lofty standards and would be hoping to make amends. Elsewhere, Joao Cancelo will be hoping to regain his best form after not looking great in recent games. Pep being Pep is likely to make rotations to keep everyone fresh and a number of players will get a chance to impress on Thursday.
Tottenham on the other hand are in a bit of a rut. The exceptional performance against Crystal Palace notwithstanding, Antonio Conte’s men have really struggled this season. They will be hoping to get the fans back on their side with an impressive performance against City although that is easier said and done. One thing to look out for will be Harry Kane’s record. The English international needs two goals to go past Jimmy Greaves and become the all-time top scorer for Tottenham. He will be hoping to make it count and try and get this record in the game against City.
PREDICTED STARTING LINEUP
Man City lineup vs Tottenham: Ederson; Rico Lewis; Akanji; Laporte; Cancelo; Rodri; Bernardo Silva; Kevin de Bruyne; Foden; Haaland; Grealish.
Tottenham lineup vs Man City: Lloris; Romero; Dier; Lenglet; Doherty; Hojbjerg; Bentancur; Perisic; Son; Kane; Kulusevski.
