Manchester City have never won or scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, so must end that unwanted record on Sunday in the Premier League.
Kevin de Bruyne should return to the Manchester City starting XI vs Tottenham
After Pep Guardiola finished his monologue that took aim at every aspect of Manchester City a fortnight ago, that extraordinary press conference was all that was going to dominate the news cycle for the next few games.
What has been an afterthought to that fall-out, has been the reminder that City had actually won their game against Tottenham after launching a thrilling comeback to win 4-2 from two goals down.
It wasn’t a perfect game, hence Guardiola’s outburst, but it ended up as a comfortable win and only a few minor improvements will be needed to that performance if City want to do a quickfire double over Spurs on Sunday.
Due to the rearrangement of that home clash, City and Spurs play each other twice in three league games, and it’s a must-win for the Blues as they look to close down Arsenal. The Gunners face Everton on Saturday lunchtime and can move eight points clear for 24 hours with both sides level on 20 games played, until City play their 21st on Sunday.
Spurs are out of form having lost to both City and Arsenal in their last three – although they did beat Fulham last time out – and will be without manager Antonio Conte for medical reasons. If City have any ambitions of winning the title, they must beat Spurs and Guardiola will expect a more straightforward victory than the eventful Etihad win.
However, if City are to do that, they will have to manage something they have never done before. Score at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. In three visits to the stadium, City have been beaten three times, failing to score each time. According to OLBG, that is the only side with a points-per-game ratio at another Premier League stadium of zero.
With Harry Kane one goal from becoming Spurs’ all-time top goalscorer outright, Son Heung-min scoring his way back into form in the FA Cup, and the January additions of Pedro Porro and Arnaut Danjuma, Pep Guardiola will be taking the hosts extremely seriously. He certainly won’t want the give them a headstart like they got at the Etihad.
In defence, Ruben Dias or Aymeric Laporte could return to give a bit more solidity at the back, while Kyle Walker may get the nod over Rico Lewis. Phil Foden could return to add some more pace into the attack if that is what Guardiola prefers, or Julian Alvarez could be moved out wide after playing behind Erling Haaland in the home meeting. Bernardo Silva is another option to come in to add energy.
One obvious selection decision, however, is the recalling of Kevin De Bruyne, who was notably left on the bench in the 4-2 win. Given Guardiola’s post-match comments, De Bruyne’s omission felt significant, although he has started the following two games and could be one of the players who took the manager’s criticisms on board.
If Guardiola wants to signify that an improvement is needed from the 4-2 win, recalling De Bruyne would be a simple way to do it, as would maybe Walker and Dias from his captaincy group. Others can contribute off the bench, but having as many leaders on the pitch can help get Guardiola’s post-Spurs messages across and help break their unwanted record at Tottenham.
source:manchestereveningnews
