Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

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Saturday 21st January 5.30pm
Premier League
City of Manchester Stadium​

Six consecutive Premier League victories and we've matched our record.
All we have to do to break it is win at The Etihad. Simple enough, eh?
I suspect that it won't be, though!

Guardiola and his men have been on something of a roller coaster in recent weeks.
They've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again on a number of occasions.
The win against Arsenal before Christmas and their recent thrashing of West Ham are at one end.
The embarrassment by Everton and losses to Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester at at the other.
This match has become very important because of those results.

Here are the highlights from their trip to the capital, prior to the Everton defeat:

What can we learn from that? Don't be ****, perhaps? Watch out for dives in the box?

Last season's game was marred by controversy, as Mark Clattenburg grabbed the headlines, again.
The tense encounter reached the break with scores level and little to talk about, with chances few and far between.
The deadline was broken early in the second half though, as Sterling blocked Rose's cross and a penalty was awarded.
Replays suggested that it was harsh, as the winger turned his back on the ball, though it did strike his arm.

Harry Kane dispatched the ball past a prone Joe Hart, as CIty players continued to protest.
Iheanacho was introduced from the bench and promptly did what he was sent on to do.
Clichy ran free down the left and his cross met the striker in acres of space, which he took full advantage of.
It wasn't enough for City though, as Lamela's superb ball found Eriksen in the box and he struck the winner.

Our meeting at White Hart Lane earlier in the campaign saw City flying high and being touted as Champions elect.
Pep's perfect start of 6 wins from 6 games had impressed everyone and they looked very impressive.
The hype didn't match the performance though, as we put in a surprisingly good stint, instead.
Kolarov's early own goal was added to by Dele Alli's stroked finished and the result never looked in question.

We have no suspensions for this game, but Lamela and Vertonghen miss out through injury.
Fernandinho continues his suspension for City and Gundogan will be absent because of his long-term injury.
Gabriel Jesus has completed his move to City though, so he's available to feature in this game.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Dier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen; Walker, Wanyama, Dembele, Rose; Eriksen, Alli; Kane.
Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Winks, Sissoko, N'Koudou, Son.
League form: WWWWWW.

City: Bravo; Sagna, Otamendi, Stones, Clichy; Zabaleta, Toure; Sterling, De Bruyne, Silva; Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Kolarov, Garcia, Delph, Sane, Navas, Iheanacho.
League form: WWWLWL.

Referee: Andre Marriner.

TV: BT Sport 1.

Vertonghen's injury leaves questions about how we deal with it. Change of tactics, personnel or both?
Should we stick with the 3-4-3 or switch back to the 4-2-3-1?
Should Wimmer or Davies replace the Belgian, if we stick with the current formation?

 

Pepe must be ****ting himself.

 

Paul Stewart .

 

Tough game, despite their recent on and off form, City are still favourites at The Etihad and seeing as we're without Jan, it's going to make it that bit tougher.

The three at the back seems to be really working at the moment, so hopefully Kev can step in like he did last season and make Jan's loss near enough non-recognisable, even if Jan has stepped up a new level this campaign.

Hugo
Dier, Toby, Kev
Walker, Wanyama, Dembele, Rose
Alli, Eriksen
Kane

Vorm, Tripps, Davies, Winks, Sissoko, GKN, Son

COYS!

 

The only question is who replaces Vertonghen for me. You could make a good case for Davies or Wimmer. I reckon personally Davies will get the nod.

So the same 11 from West Brom with Davies for Vertonghen and then a bench of:

Vorm
Trippier
Wimmer
Winks
Sissoko
Son
GKN

I would be happy to see Wimmer and Davies swap places though I don't see much difference between them both.

I could see Poch going back with 4 at the back with Toby and Dier as centre backs and then maybe Son coming in but I think he will stick to the same formation given the recent success.

 

The first goal IMO will be crucial. You could see City's heads drop if we score first. If they score first then that will get the crowd going and with the quality they do have it will be hard to turn it round.

 

Most talk leading up to the game has I think concentrated, boringly and unsurprisingly, more on ManC being bad then us being good. The bookies have them favourite, but I suspect that some of the odds might reflect betting patterns as much as the real odds of us getting a result. I think it could go either way but, and this is the really really important point, it would not be a big surprise if we won. So whether we do or not, please enjoy (if that is possible for a Spurs fan) the fact that we have a very good chance of beating anyone in the PL. And that is progress, and that is something that many seem to have forgotten, to remember where we were and where we are now.

 

There's a piece in today's Metro that's trying to make a Spurs vs City rivalry a thing.

While there have been times where that could be argued, for example the 2009-10 season where we ended up in an essential play-off for the final Champions League spot, realistically there's no reason to even try and claim that's the truth - not even if you replayed Balotelli kicking Scott Parker in the head on a loop for two hours.

Even trying to frame it as a difference in principles doesn't really work, because City stand alongside the other bottomless chequebooks such as Chelsea and Man Utd while on the other side of the fence Everton and Southampton stand alongside Spurs, yet was anyone talking about a rivalry when Everton tonked City last weekend?

 

Yes, but can you name the other two players who also got hat-tricks when City beat Huddersfield 10-1 in 1987 in front of 19,000 in Div 2?

 

Imre Varadi ?

 

The Goat?

 

Not even warm. Both English.

 

Lake? White?

 

David White

 

We're playing really well. City just lost by four goals. We've beat City three straight times. I know I'm supposed to feel confident.

 

I looked it up. The other scorer, Neil McNab, I remember very well. He was a very good player. Adcock, I've no recollection of at all.

 

You just know Bravo will have a worldy against us

 

John Stones will remember how to defend

 

Aguero will remember how to score