Man City breezed past Sporting CP in the Champions League in midweek and now all their focus will be on their Premier League game against Spurs.
The Cityzens thumped five goals past Sporting on Tuesday meaning they have one foot in the next round of the UCL and now they will want to widen the gap from Liverpool in the PL. City are currently nine points ahead of 2nd placed Liverpool but they have played one game more so they need to pick all three points vs Spurs if they wish to maintain the nine-point difference.
Pep Guardiola’s side are in a superb run of form, winning 14 of their last 15 league matches and given how poor Spurs’ recent record is at the Etihad, we expect Man City to pick up a comfortable win on Saturday.
Spurs visit Manchester at the back of some really poor form so things will be even easier for the home side. Guardiola does have a few injury concerns going into this game but this side’s confidence is at an all-time high so it will be really difficult for the visitors to come up with something magical.
Man City team news vs Tottenham:
Zack Steffen is out with a back injury but Ederson’s fully fit so it’s won’t be a concern for the Man City manager.
5 – Man City become the first team EVER to win 5 consecutive knock-out ties in the Champions League. Ridiculous. 🤯@ManCity | #ManCity pic.twitter.com/1MaID0zMDL
— StatCity (@StatCity) February 15, 2022
Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias paired up in central defence in midweek and we don’t think the manager will be eager to tinker with this pairing against a team like Spurs. He does have John Stones and Nathan Ake at his disposal but both of them will start on the bench.
Kyle Walker was suspended for City’s Champions League tie and will replace John Stones, who played as the right-back on Tuesday night.
Bernardo Silva ran the show against Sporting, scoring two goals and providing one assist so he will definitely hold onto his place and Guardiola won’t even dare drop Kevin De Bruyne to the bench.
We're witnessing a truly special football team. 👏💙 @ManCity pic.twitter.com/Bn3Ba8VN2k
— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) February 15, 2022
This means Ilkay Gundogan will once again miss out and will have to be content with a substitutes appearance on Saturday.
Jack Grealish has missed the previous two games due to a shin injury but hopefully, he will recover in time for the Man City vs Spurs clash. It will be interesting to see which three forward players get to start against the Lilywhites since Sterling as well as Phil Foden have been amongst the goals in recent games.
Speaking about Grealish’s injury during the weekend, Guardiola had said: “He’s injured. A little bit what he had last season at Villa, less of course. Training after Brentford he wasn’t good, we make a test, he wasn’t ready today. Hopefully ready for Tuesday.”
Riyad Mahrez has locked onto his place on the right flank so if Jack Grealish is fully fit then he’ll either play as the false nine or as the right-winger. But given how average he’s been, it won’t be a surprise if the ex-Villa man starts on the bench.
Gabriel Jesus should also recover from his muscle injury but he will not find a place in the starting line up.
Man City predicted line up vs Spurs:
Predicted Starting Line up(4-3-3): Ederson; Laporte, Ruben Dias, Cancelo, Walker; Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva; Sterling/Grealish, Foden, Mahrez.
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Stats via Fotmob
