Man City vs Tottenham Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

Preview

Haydn Cunningham Feb 10, 2016 @ 10:48 pm

Manchester City didn’t get the result they thought they’d get after announcing Pep Guardiola would be taking charge in the summer after a crushing 3-1 defeat at home to Leicester City. Not many predicted that Manuel Pellegrini’s side would become the latest team to be undone by Leicester City but they were well beaten and have now dropped to 4^th place in the Premier League table with Arsenal taking full advantage of the defeat. They have a 6 point advantage over neighbours Manchester United so they’re still in a strong position to secure Champions League football but they won’t have a better chance to claim a 3^rd Premier League title in 5 years given the struggles of Manchester United, Liverpool and reigning champions Chelsea. City had took 28 points from a possible 36 at home this season prior to the Leicester loss and despite the setback they still have the most superior home record in the league with Tottenham just behind. It was just City’s 2^nd defeat this year having gone 7 games unbeaten.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have won 6 games on the trot and the performances have linked Pochettino with the Manchester United job at the end of the season. Tottenham managed 4 consecutive away victories in the space of 2 weeks and the latest victory was a hard fought 1-0 win over London rivals Watford. Dele Alli played a crucial part once again with a stunning ball into the 6 yard box for Kieran Trippier to tap home but the English midfielder has had slight health concerns over the past couple of weeks and hasn’t been able to complete 90 minutes for a number of games. Tottenham have lost just 3 games in the league this year and they’re in a fantastic position to challenge for the title as well as securing Champions League football. The last time they qualified for Europe’s most prestigious competition they had the likes of Luka Modric and Gareth Bale in their ranks but they have new stars coming through with Harry Kane and Dele Alli very much the focal point.

The reverse fixture earlier this season saw Tottenham emphatically beat Manchester City 4-1 and inflicted their worst defeat of the season. Tottenham’s only loss away from home in the league this season was on the opening day of the season as they harshly lost 1-0 to the other Manchester club, United. They were defeated in the Europa League at Anderlecht but weren’t at full strength. Man City have won the past 5 meetings over Tottenham at the Etihad stadium and will need to carry on that run should they wish to challenge Leicester at the top of the table. Goals are often aplenty when City and Tottenham meet and they’ve shared 23 goals between them in the past 5 games with City scoring 16 of them.

Pellegrini is desperately missing Vincent Kompany in the heart of defence as Martin Demechelis and Nicolas Otamendi are just an accident waiting to happen when paired together. David Silva is still having problems with an ankle injury he can’t fully shake off but has been playing through the pain barrier. Pochettino will be hoping Dele Alli is fit enough to start against City. Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies were 2^nd choice in their respective positions at the start of the season but both started in the 1-0 win over Watford.

Manchester City

Stats: W-14 L-6 D-5

Recent Form – LWWWD

Tottenham

Stats: W-13 L-3 D-9                                         

Recent Form - WWWWW

Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Manchester City (4-2-3-1) – Hart, Zabaleta, Demechlis, Otamendi, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, Silva, Sterling, Aguero

Leicester (4-2-3-1) – Lloris, Trippier, Verthongen, Alderweireld, Davies, Dier, Alli, Lamela, Eriksen, Son, Kane

Injury List/Suspended Players

Manchester City – Kompany (inj), Mangala (inj), De Bruyne (inj)

Tottenham – Walker (inj), Rose (inj)

League Positions