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Tottenham vs Manchester City – Match Preview

It’s without doubt the heavyweight clash of the weekend as Tottenham play host to Manchester City at White Hart Lane, before the weekends action these two sides were sitting 2nd and 1st in the Premier League table resepctively and although Tottenham may have slipped a couple of places due to Saturday’s result this certainly has all of the makings of a top of the table clash.

Pep Guardiola brings his City side to Tottenham hoping there is a better outcome compared to last season when they were under the tutelage of Manuel Pellegrini and ended up on the other end of a 4-1 defeat. That win was the first in a double of victories for Tottenham over City last season and they will look to continue that run of wins this afternoon.

Guardiola may have his 100% league record intact but the perfect record in all competitions has gone after only leaving Celtic Park with a 3-3 draw after their Champions League tie with Celtic in midweek. Celtic certainly didn’t make life easy for them and it showed that they are side that can be got out and still has the odd defensive vulnerability.

That will certainly give Tottenham cause for optimism and confidence will be high after a much changed side came away from Moscow with an impressive 1-0 win to kick start their own Champions League campaign and with Heung-min Son they have one of the Premier League’s form players.

He has now scored 5 goals in their last 5 matches and the last two outings have seen all important strikes from the South Korean, it was his winner on Tuesday as they got the better of CSKA and his brace away at Middlesbrough played a huge part in them leaving the North East last Saturday with all three points.

The emergence of Son as a real goal threat has somewhat softened the blow of Harry Kane being out absent through injury. The big decision that Mauricio Pochettino will have to make is whether or not to persevere with the hardworking Vincent Janssen or use Son as the point of the attack.

For all of City’s defensive vulnerabilities that they showed on Wednesday they still have an embarrassment of riches upfront as they managed to claw level on three separate occasions to make sure they left The Battle Of Britain with a share of the points.

Last Saturday saw them edge past Swansea 3-1 at The Liberty Stadium, it may not have been the easiest encounter that they have had so far this season but the quality shone through in the end and the return of Sergio Aguero from suspension would have played a huge difference. City didn’t miss him while he was away but they look even more ominous with him spearheading the attack.

This game may only be the 7th of the season but it could have huge repercussions. A win for Tottenham and it shows that we’re not just going to have a one horse race this season while a win for City realistically then leaves 5 teams fighting for the other 3 Champions League places come May.

That doesn’t mean defeat for Tottenham is all doom and gloom but it doesn’t necessarily mean a win for them this afternoon means the title is coming to White Hart Lane in it’s final ever season, it’s a massive game but at the same time you need to be careful not to put too much importance on it.

Spurs are yet to concede a goal from open play in the league but they are going to have their work cut out if they are continue that run this afternoon. But that said City also look like they are capable of conceding so I certainly think both teams will score.

Without too much Tottenham bias being applied, I honestly think that they will be the first team to take points off of Pep Guardiola but I don’t think they will be able to fully put them to the sword. I think it will end in a draw and a result that probably suits Guardiola more than Pochettino.

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