Game of the Week: Manchester City Vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Photo courtesy Ftw.usatoday.com
The Premier League finally returns after what felt like a longer than usual international break. Heading into match week 12, the big game on the menu this week is Manchester City hosting Tottenham Hotspur.
Both of these teams have started relatively slow compared to what the standards and expectation have been set on them before the season began.
Coming into this week Manchester City have lost four games in a row. The first time this has ever happened since head coach Pep Guardiola took over in 2016. They will be looking to shift the tides in their favor and start building momentum to try and catch first place Liverpool.
For Tottenham, their recent form also suggests that they also haven’t been on the greatest run of games losing three of their last five, even though one of those wins came against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.
Timo Werner Scoring a goal against Manchester City to win 2-1 in the Carabao Cup on 10/30/24. Photo Courtesy: sportningnews.com
Tottenham have become Manchester City’s bogey team over the years. Since 2020, In nine Premier League meetings Tottenham have beat Manchester City five times. Meaning that Tottenham usually pull out a result against them.
For Manchester City this is a must win. They already sit five points behind first place Liverpool, a loss this week would be costly to their title hopes as Liverpool’s point tally will only grow as they play bottom feeders Southampton this week, a win that is expected for Liverpool.
What to expect.
Both of these teams haven’t had the most compact defenses as they’ve both conceded 13 goals so far. There will for sure be goals in this game. The only question is how many?
Manchester City will dominate the ball like they always do. They average 64% possession per game, by far more than any other team in the league. It’s great that they have been able to keep the ball for so long, but there’s been no end product to really show for all the possession. Other than Erling Haaland, there’s no one else in the club who can consistently find the back of the net. This is evident because City’s second highest goal scorer is defender Joško Gvardiol who has three goals.
On the Tottenham side of attacking play they’ve also been very inconsistent. They scored four goals against Aston Villa, but they also managed to not score against 18th place Crystal Palace. You never know what type of Tottenham will show up. Against the bigger teams this season they have shown that they can win and be competitive, for some reason when they player lower sides they have the tendency to shell up and perform below expectation.
Trying to pick a player from Manchester City to watch out for is almost impossible because you never what type of line-up Pep Guardiola will put up. The obvious answer is Erling Haaland, but there’s more to the game than just goals. You have the likes of Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku, and even more players to name. The team is obviously talented enough where anyone can put their mark on the game, but it’s time for Phil Foden to step up.
Foden has started the season very slow. Coming off a questionable EUROS performance for England, he’s done nothing this season compared to his season last year which was phenomenal. This could be the game that finally puts Foden back on track and start becoming the player we all know he can become.
Phil Foden with his 2024 PFA Player of The Year. Courtesy Irishexaminer.com
This game should be the most entertaining from this week as this fixture, more times than not, always produces some type of moment that will stick for the whole season. A win for either of these teams can turn their season around. It’s hard to predict a winner in this match, so in that case a draw is the most probable outcome, but wouldn’t be shocked if Tottenham somehow end up leaving the Ethiad with three points.
