Tottenham v Manchester City Match Preview – Premier League, 14th April 2018

Tottenham v Manchester City Preview

Tottenham know all about the pain of crashing out of the Champions League at home. Spurs were excellent in the first leg of their round of 16 clash with Juventus but crumbled late on in the return leg at Wembley Stadium. Mauricio Pochettino was devastated at the time but showed why he is such a highly regarded manager by ensuring that his players didn’t waver from the task ahead.

Spurs are currently in the midst of their best spell of form of the season. They’ve put themselves in an incredibly strong position in the race for a top four spot and have an FA Cup semi final to look forward to. This current Tottenham team love little more than proving themselves against the best teams around and you can be sure they’ll be fired up for the visit of Man City.

The mental state of the City squad is a little more questionable. You don’t reach the level of football that the Man City players have without being incredibly mentally resilient and competitive but there’s a real danger that a malaise will set in now until the end of the season. With the Premier League title just a matter of time and no cup football, it’s clear that Pep Guardiola has a big task on his hands in terms of motivation.

The other big task for Guardiola going forwards is working out how to improve Man City’s defence when they are placed under pressure. The City backline crumbled in spells against Liverpool and Man Utd. That will have caught Pochettino’s attention. He likes his players to make a start fast and that could prove a key ingredient in the recipe to success on Saturday.

Relevant Stats, Injuries and Suspensions

Tottenham go into the match as the favourites with the bookies but nobody is expecting the game to be easy for the home side. Man City have failed to score in just one Premier League game and are comfortably the top scorers in the division. They also put four past Spurs when the two sides met in December even if that is the Citizens’ only win in five against Saturday’s opponents.

Tottenham have shaken off all talk of a Wembley curse and actually have the fifth best home record in the Premier League season to date. However, Man City have the league’s best away record picking up seven more points on their travels than Spurs have at their temporary home.

In the build up to the match much of the discussion will be about the quality that these two teams have in attacking areas. However, it’s interesting to note that no team has conceded fewer than the 24 goals Man City have let in this season while Spurs have conceded just three more goals.

Tottenham’s chances on Saturday are boosted by having almost a completely clean bill of health. Harry Winks is the only real injury doubt while Harry Kane should be fit enough to play 90 minutes. Man City are still without Benjamin Mendy while Sergio Aguero’s match fitness remains an issue. Fernandinho will miss out through suspension.

Tottenham v Manchester City Tips

It’s not often that Man City go into a Premier League game as the underdogs but on this occasion the bookies look to have called the game correctly. The Citizens are smarting from the events of the last fortnight and Fernandinho is a big miss in midfield. Spurs are intent on finishing the season very strongly and look a good price to win at odds of 6/4 with BetVictor.

Man City’s incredible attacking record this season suggests that it won’t all be plain sailing for Spurs. City will have a good spell at some stage and it could be worth betting on both teams to score in the second half at 7/4 with Betfair. Finally, a fast Tottenham start is expected. Of all those players capable of opening the scoring for Spurs, the in form Christian Eriksen looks the best value at big odds of 8/1 with Ladbrokes.