Manchester City at home and Manchester City away have been two different beasts this season. Thankfully for City, come Sunday, it will be the former as they host Tottenham in the English Premier League.
Both teams would have witnessed Arsenal pick up all three points against Southampton, and will know they really need all a win to remain within touching distance. City are on 19 points from 11 points, nine behind the league leaders while Tottenham are only a point better than their Sunday opponents.
City at home this season have been irresistible, winning all five of their matches so far while scoring goals for fun. So, Manuel Pellegrini’s men will go into the game as favourites, against Andre Villas-Boas’ rather goal-shy side.
“The points are the points, and they [Tottenham] have 20 points,” Pellegrini said. “The whole season they have been in the first seven places of the table and they have very good players. Sometimes it can happen that you don’t score too many goals but I think they are a very strong team and they deserve to be in the place they are.
“It is an important game. All the Premier League games are important, because all have three points [at stake], but we are playing against one of the teams near the top of the table so it is [more] important.”
Spurs have only managed nine goals all season, even if they have let in only six, and one would imagine scoring just a solitary goal against a City side in rampant form at home will not be enough.
“My philosophy is to play the game and try to win it,” Villas-Boas said. “Sometimes it comes at a cost because instead of drawing you can end up losing but I would prefer to try win the game so that is our strategy.
“We will try to attack, to try to create more chances than the opponent. That is the way I have approached games and I would like to continue like that.”
Team News: City are still without skipper Vincent Kompany and influential playmaker David Silva, while Stevan Jovetic remains sidelined.
Spurs will miss the services of Christian Eriksen and Danny Rose. Villas-Boas hinted former City striker Emmanuel Adebayor, left in the cold this season, could make a surprise return to the starting lineup.
“We have trained 4-4-2 this week and played a local game on Friday,” he said. “We can revert to it in the future. But I am not sure now is the right time because we have been very consistent defensively.
“It is still 4-2-3-1. We tried a little bit with Soldado and Adebayor up front. It is something we did a bit last season so it is not something we have to spend a lot of time on. Ade alone or with another striker is a great striker so you don’t need to teach him a lot. You don’t need to teach him about systems.
“We have two performing strikers — Ade has not had chance to get into the team yet but I am sure he will perform when he does. Our likely approach is to go with one up front and they are very close to each other. It is even a possibility Ade could play the game. It will be the decision that is best for the team and best for the strategy.”
Key men: Manchester City: Sergio Aguero has been in brilliant form for City this season, and the Argentine will be expected to keep banging in the goals.
Tottenham: Andros Townsend is having a breakout season, and if the winger has one of his more influential game for Spurs, City could be in for a difficult time.
Where to Watch Live
The game is scheduled for a 7 pm IST start with live coverage on Star Sports 4. You can also catch the match live streaming online by going to the official Star Sports website. To watch the game via live stream in the U.S., click HERE. The match can be seen live online in the U.K. by clicking HERE. To watch it courtesy live streaming in North Africa and the Middle East, click HERE.
Expected lineups: Manchester City: Pantilimon; Zabaleta, Demichelis, Nastasic, Clichy; Toure, Fernandinho; Navas, Aguero, Nasri; Negredo.
Tottenham: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Chiriches, Vertonghen; Sandro, Paulinho; Townsend, Holtby, Sigurdsson; Soldado.
Prediction: 2-1 to Tottenham
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