Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City preview: Blues look to bounce back after disappointing week

By Ric Turner, Fri 13 April 2018 16:26


Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City preview: Blues look to bounce back after disappointing weekAguero, Mendy and Stones all miss out through injury whilst Fernandinho starts two match suspension

Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 7.45pm, Saturday 14th April 2018

Venue: Wembley Stadium, London

Referee: Jonathan Moss Assistants: S Bennett, A Halliday Fourth Official: S Atwell

Odds: Spurs 8/5, Draw 5/2, City 8/5

Tickets: Sold out

TV: Sky Sports

Tottenham Hotspur

Manager: Mauricio Pochettino

Squad (from): Lloris, Vorm, Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Sanchez, Aurier, Davies, Son, Lamela, Wanyama, Dier, Sissoko, Dembele, Alli, Eriksen, Moura, Kane, Llorente

Injured: Rose, Winks, Walkers-Peter

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Form guide: WLWWWW

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Bravo, Ederson, Muric, Danilo, Laporte, Kompany, Otamendi, Walker, Zinchenko, De Bruyne, Delph, Foden, Gundogan, Sane, B Silva, D Silva, Sterling, Toure, Jesus, Diaz

Injured: Mendy, Aguero, Stones

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Fernandinho

Form guide: LWWLLL

City will be without injured trio Sergio Aguero, Benjamin Mendy, and John Stones, whilst Fernandinho misses out through suspension.

“Aguero is injured,” Guardiola confirmed. “He was injured before the game [against Liverpool] but tried to help us. That's why he could not play from the beginning. He was not ready.

“I don’t know [when he will be back]. You cannot forget he was injured and he made a huge effort because after the action from Ashley Young against United, the problem in the knee he could not train.

“He played less than 15, 20 minutes and after said he cannot run and was in a lot of pain. I don’t know if he will be ready for Swansea.

"Hopefully for the last games we can have him.

“John Stones is not ready. Fernandinho is suspended. Mendy is out. We have 14 players for the next game, plus the kids.”

It's been a difficult week for the Blues, with successive defeats against Liverpool in the Champions League and rivals United in the Manchester derby, but Guardiola has urged calm amongst his players.

“Try to be who we were during the season and thinking about three points,” he said. “We are 13 points clear because we deserve to be there.

“In the last eight or nine Premier League games, we lost one. We won the last five in a row before United. Results are good.

“We need to think about the strong points of Tottenham, try to win the game.

“One of the successes we have had is when we drop points, we have then win, win, win, win."

City's last league game against Spurs ended in a 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, courtesy of an own goal from Aleksandar Kolarov and a Dele Alli strike. Overall City have won 59 of the 154 games played against Spurs, with 35 draws and 60 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Delph, Gundogan, D Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Sane, Jesus

Score prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 3 Manchester City 1