Pep Guardiola might be the first manager ever to sign a contract extension after losing four games in a row, but the Spaniard is adamant that “now is not the moment to leave” as his side look forward to hosting Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
The visitors will be keen for a response of their own after an embarrassing defeat to Ipswich left Ange Postecoglou accepting responsibility for his teams’ inability to get a result from a club who hadn’t won a Premier League game in two decades.
Title Challenge In Question
City’s pursuit of league leaders Liverpool is in need of a positive run of form, and Guardiola will be eager to take advantage of a Tottenham team who have collapsed under pressure numerous times this season – most notably their second half meltdown in Brighton which saw them lose 3-2.
To add to City’s optimism, England absentee Phil Foden is said to be fit for the weekend, and the 2023/24 PFA Player of the Season will be eager to get his 2024/25 campaign up and running after a slow start.
Injury woes have plagued City throughout this season, and there is a new name on the list for this weekend.
In this morning’s press conference Guardiola revealed that Mateo Kovacic will be out for “three works or a month” with an injury. This will only compound City’s frustrations and makes predicting the eleven that will face Tottenham tomorrow very tricky.
Prior to the international break, Guardiola had tried to compensate for Rodri’s absence through using Kovacic and an inverted Rico Lewis in midfield when City are in possession – which has gone about as well as when the Spaniard benched Rodri for their Champions League final defeat in 2021.
Senior defenders Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are still set to be absent.
In more positive news, John Stones and Manuel Akanji have trained this week and should be fit to start. Stones’ return may come at a vital time, as he could well be Guardiola’s solution for filling the Rodri-Kovacic shaped hole in the midfield. The Englishman has been previously entrusted to play a similar role, so it is certainly possible that this is where Pep sees his solution.
Foden’s fitness alongwith Haaland’s return to goalscoring form (including a recent hat-trick for Norway) will give City fans plenty of confidence in breaking through Tottenham’s high-line, and should they achieve this, it’s hard to see anything but a victory for the Premier League champions – even despite their potential difficulties in midfield.
Tottenham City’s Bogey Team
It might be a stretch to say that the club who boast four consecutive Premier League titles have a bogey team, but if they were to have one it, it would come in the form of North London’s whites.
Across their last 12 meetings in all competitions, Tottenham have won 5 and drawn 1. An almost 50% win record against the country’s best outfit is commendable.
Despite Rodrigo Bentancur’s ban leaving Tottenham without their key midfielder, Yves Bissouma should come in as a replacement in the same role.
The rest of Tottenham’s injury list makes for bleaker reading: Christian Romero sustained an injury against Paraguay for Argentina and has been ruled out, as has centre back partner Micky Van de Ven.
Postecoglou has admitted that he has made mistakes during his time in charge, but also accepts that he has “been able to learn from them”.
Having recently defeated City in the Carabao Cup, Tottenham will certainly some confidence heading into the weekend. Dejan Kulusevski has been vital for Spurs this season, and any points the Whites hope to take from the Etihad could hinge on him.
Son Heung-Min is yet to fire on all cylinders this season, but his track record: 12 goals and assists across 19 games against City, and the current vulnerabilities of the City defence suggests that Son will have opportunities during the game.
Set Pieces to be Vital
Despite both teams’ attacking talent and vulnerabilities on the break, there is a scenario where the game is cagey and it comes down to a moment from a set piece to dictate the outcome.
With both teams sustaining recent losses, priority number one will likely be ‘don’t concede first’.
Tottenham’s terrible record defending corners – with notoriously flappy goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario often at the heart of that – suggests that City would be favourites for a set piece goal. Yet City’s vulnerability on the counterattack means that a defensive corner for Tottenham could provide them with a brilliant attacking chance.
In essence, the Etihad is in for a treat on Saturday evening.
Pressing Issues 
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