Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City preview

By Ric Turner, Fri 25 September 2015 13:39


Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City previewInjury problems continue as six first team players are ruled out of Spurs clash

Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City

Date: 12.45pm, Saturday 26th September 2015

Venue: White Hart Lane, North London

Referee: Mark Clattenburg Assistants: S Beck, J Collin Fourth Official: A Taylor

Odds: Tottenham 13/4, Draw 3/1, Manchester City Evens

Tickets: Sold out

TV: BT Sport 1

Tottenham Hotspur

Manager: Mauricio Pochettino

Squad (from): Lloris, McGee, Vorm, Alderweireld, Davies, Dier, Fazio, Rose, Trippier, Vertonghen, Walker, Wimmer, Alli, Carroll, Chadli, Dembele, Eriksen, Lamela, Mason, Onomah, Son, Townsend, Winks, Kane, N'Jie.

Injured: Bentaleb, Pritchard

Doubtful: Mason

Suspended: None

Form guide: WWDDDL

Manchester City

Manager: Manuel Pellegrini

Squad (from): Caballero, Hart, Wright, Demichelis, Kolarov, Kompany, Otamendi, Sagna, Zabaleta, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Fernando, Garcia, Navas, Nasri, Roberts, Toure, Aguero, Sterling.

Injured: Clichy, Delph, Mangala, Bony, Iheanacho, Silva

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: LWWWWW

Manuel Pellegrini is without six first team players as his side travel to White Hart Lane, hoping to rectify last weekend's defeat against West Ham United. David Silva, Wilfried Bony, Eliaquim Mangala and Kelechi Iheanacho join long term absentees Fabian Delph and Gael Clichy. On a brighter note, captain Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Samir Nasri are all included in the squad.

Questions have been raised over the recent form of Sergio Aguero, but Pellegrini believes his striker will soon be back to his best.

"I think that against Sunderland Kun was practically 100% fit," Pellegrini reflected.

"He was an important player – he was involved in the goals, he scored and he had other chances. Maybe after his injury, especially against West Ham he wasn’t 100% but now I believe he is."

The Chilean warned his side not to underestimate Spurs, and paid tribute to Mauricio Pocettino.

"Every game is different, we are just believing that if we don’t play well we won’t win," Pellegrini said.

"I don’t analyse Spurs’ start – they have good players, a very young team – so I think that Pochettino is doing very good work there and we’ll see how they do at the end of the season."

City's last away game at White Hart Lane ended in a 1-0 victory, thanks to a Sergio Aguero strike. Overall City have won 58 of the 149 games played against Spurs, with 34 draws and 57 defeats.

Prediction: Tottenham 1 City 1