Manchester City will travel to north London to take on Tottenham Hotspur this Saturday. Let’s take a look at their team news ahead of this important clash.
City have taken 12 points from the first seven games and they currently sit in 10th place in the table. They will want to start moving up the table and getting a big win over Spurs here could kickstart their potential push up the ladder.
Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Kickoff: Sat Nov 21, 5:30pm GMT, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Team News: Tottenham
Starting XI Predictions: Tottenham Man City
Odds: Tottenham 3/1 Draw 3/1 Man City 4/5
Referee: Mike Dean
The team news is somewhat similar to what it was before the international break with a couple notable exceptions. Raheem Sterling injured his calf during national duty with England and he is a doubt for this one. Also, central defender Nathan Ake lasted just six minutes of the Netherlands draw with Spain, and he’ll sit this one out.
You also have three long term absentees in Benjamin Mendy, Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho. They are out of contention for Saturday’s match.
This makes the team selection rather easier for Pep Guardiola. It will be quite similar to the team that drew against Liverpool. That draw against the league Champions could prove to be an extremely crucial point in the context of the season.
City will be confident here as Guardiola gets ready to take on one of his most famous rivals, Jose Mourinho. The Spurs manager will surely have some prepared tricks up his sleeve to disrupt the opposition’s rhythm.
The Cityzens haven’t had the best of starts to this season as they have drawn three out of their seven games. It was thought that losing the Premier League title to Liverpool last season would have motivated them to come back much stronger, but that has just not been the case early on.
Injuries to key players have not helped, but they must put all of that behind them now and focus on getting more matches with three points to show for it, instead of just the single.
A victory over Tottenham will send out a statement to the other clubs that Manchester City mean business again. Saturday promises to give the viewers an interesting tactical battle that could be high octane football.