England Premier League
Thursday 19th January 2023
Kick off at 8pm GMT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Match Preview:
This is becoming a tough season for Manchester City now that is where they are at and Pep Guardiola who celebrated his birthday this week would like a present from his team and that is 3 points. The champions have fallen 8 points behind Arsenal but that is not the only concern. Even second place is not assured with the emergence of Manchester United and Newcastle are up there too.
Manchester City lost their third game of the season last weekend as they were beaten in the derby game against Manchester United. Yes United’s equaliser looked controversial and perhaps on another day the goal wouldn’t have stood but United were getting back into the game and we have seen a big drop off from City this season when teams put them under pressure. The result just seemed inevitable. It means that City have picked up 7 points from their last 15 and just 19 from their last 30. Now 19 points isn’t a terrible target from most teams but for City that is a significant drop off. The good news? Because of goal difference the club officially has the best home record so far with 22 points won from 27 and just one defeat, they are scoring 3 goals per game on average. But the bad news is that their last two games at home have ended in a 2-1 defeat against Brentford and a 1-1 draw against Everton.
Tottenham have been suffering lately too and like their opponents they lost a derby game this past weekend going down 2-0 at home to Arsenal. That confirmed if confirmation was needed that Tottenham’s title chances are over. The worry though is will the club even finish in a top four place, which would have been absolutely the objective at the beginning of the season. Just four points have been won from their last 4 games and while they are scoring goals with 37 so far they are conceding too with 27. For example Everton in 19th place have shipped one fewer goal.
Away from home Antonio Conte’s side have won 4 from 9 games and lost twice and they are on an unbeaten streak of 3 games and in their last game they demolished Crystal Palace 4-0. The club also has a knack of coming to the Etihad and pulling off a result so we should be in for a fascinating game. Given that Tottenham are 5 points from 4th place coming into this week the game could be a must win if their rivals win at the weekend, and Champions League football could become a distant dream very soon.
Team News:
Manchester City: Ruben Dias (hamstring) and John Stones (fitness) are doubts to be ready for this game and while they could be assessed both players are expected to miss out.
Tottenham: Lucas Moura is the only injury worry as he has a tendon strain and looks to be sidelined once again.
Man City vs Tottenham Head to Head:
Last season Tottenham won this fixture 3-2.
In the league it’s been 2 years since Manchester City beat Tottenham.
There is a 60% chance to see under 2.5 goals.
Man City vs Tottenham Prediction:
Tottenham are unpredictable but we should expect them to be at full throttle here and they have beaten Manchester City in their last two games. The worry for Conte’s side is that at times Harry Kane has been starved of service but the team look a bit more adventurous on the road against the better sides. They know how to get under City’s skin and create problems and they could well do so again here.
Manchester City have no chance to win this game if they yet again start too slow and sluggish, the game will just pass them by and they will understand that they won’t be able to take Tottenham lightly. At the same time they could give the Londoners a real hiding here and Guardiola really needs to see a proper performance from his team, which has really been lacking in the last five months other than their 4-0 thrashing of Chelsea at this stadium a few weeks ago. Simply put City need to bring their A game and excuses are running thin. It’s interesting to think that Tottenham could well do their rivals Arsenal a huge favour by winning this game but they need too to keep in contention for Champions League qualification. While we believe that City can dig deep and win this one they are 1.30 and that won’t be floating many punters boats.
Man City vs Tottenham Betting Tips:
Asian handicap (-1 Man City) at 1.55
First goalscorer: Erling Haaland at 3.00
Over 2.5 goals at 1.58
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