After beating Fulham 1-0 in their last Premier League outing, the Spurs sit three points from the Champions League places ahead of the round and thus will know that successive Premier League victories for the first time since October may prove vital.
Tottenham Hotspur
Despite manager Antonio Conte spending time away from football as he recovers from surgery, the show must go on for Tottenham Hotspur, who will ready themselves to face reigning Premier League champions Manchester City. After beating Fulham 1-0 in their last Premier League outing, Spurs sit three points from the Champions League places ahead of the round and thus will know that successive Premier League victories for the first time since October may prove vital. The signs could be better for the Spurs at first glance after losing four of their last five league home games. A lacklustre defence is a culprit as Tottenham have conceded the first goal in each of those contests, a rut they have barely seen in the last 20 years, having last conceded in six consecutive Premier League home games back in 2003. Yet football is a funny game, as they say.
No fixture may be quite as peculiar as this one for City boss Pep Guardiola, who has lost each of his four visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without his side scoring, giving Spurs some hope of avoiding that piece of unwanted history and keeping their top-four hopes firmly alive.
Manchester City
That happens to be Guardiola’s most visits to any stadium without winning, but this could be the year where that all changes, as, despite some indifferent form at times this season, his juggernaut side have racked up 53 Premier League goals over the first 20 rounds, which has helped them to successive Premier League wins including a come-from-behind 4-2 home victory over Spurs last month. Manchester City followed that up with a 1-0 FA Cup win over Premier League leaders Arsenal, so they may arrive psychologically primed and hopeful of improving their relatively average away league form this season. For those who like an omen, City beat Spurs’ north London-based rivals Arsenal 2-1 away in their 21st game of the previous Premier League season before losing just one of their next 17 games on the way to securing the title!
This could be an enthralling duel of two prolific strikers, with in-form Spurs forward Harry Kane needing just one more successful strike to become only the third player to reach 200 Premier League goals. City’s Erling Haaland smashed his fourth Premier League hat-trick from just his 19th Premier League appearance in last round’s 3-0 win over Wolves – a feat no player has managed in fewer games. Ahead of the round, only City have scored more second-half goals than Tottenham in this league campaign.