Premier League: City and Spurs…Round Three

Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester City hosts Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium as both teams continue an epic season in search of glory.

Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino have guided their teams to the business end of the season with everything to play for, and now they come together for the third time in two weeks.

City is trading blow for blow with Liverpool at the top of the league in the most exciting title race for years. Meanwhile, Spurs, who made it a three horse race throughout the first half of the season, are now in a four-way battle for two Champions League places. Premier League Manchester City vs Spurs is the blockbuster clash of the weekend and we’ll be right there with all the action at SBOBET.

Spurs had the better of the Sky Blues in the Champions League first leg, thanks to a Heung-Min Son goal. And there is that small matter to settle this week before these two teams meet again in the League on Saturday.

It’s going to be another great game so, in the meantime, let’s have a look at the big talking points and cast an eye over the Manchester City vs Spurs betting odds.

Talking Points

Sky Blues showing no sign of stress

You’d think the ever-increasing talk of quadruple, at least outside of the Etihad, might increase the pressure on Manchester City, but there’s no sign of it so far. Jurgen Klopp seems to have inspired his Liverpool to move into another gear, beating an impressive Chelsea side on Sunday, which must have had a few Sky Blues’ fans worrying.

But Pep Guardiola’s team has been playing with cool efficiency in the league in recent weeks, beating teams from the lower half of the table and rarely moving out of their own second gear. And the City boss in using his talented squad carefully as the climax of three big competitions home into view.

Pep rested some of his biggest names in the first leg Champions League tie against Spurs, only throwing Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane on in the 89^th minute, and De Bruyne almost created an equaliser. Leaving his best player on the bench for such a big game is a sign of supreme confidence in his squad.

Of course, he has a fantastic choice of striking talent, led by Sergio Aguero, who has been at the top of the Premier League goalscorers chart for a while; and Kane’s injury increases his chances of winning the Golden Boot.

And in a very tricky Premier League fixture at the weekend, away to Crystal Palace, Aguero was subbed by Gabriel Jesus who scored a goal, while Raheem Sterling grabbed a brace.

Spurs Stand-ins can stand up

Yet another injury to Harry Kane has dealt a blow to Mauricio Pochettino’s hopes of a comfortable run-in to the end of the campaign, but when he asked his other players to take up the baton, he is rarely let down.

Heung-Min Son scored his 18^thgoal of the season, in all competitions, when Spurs beat City in the Champions League first leg. And in the skipper’s prolonged absence earlier in the season the South Korean really came to the fore as the club’s main man up front.

Premier League: Sergio Aguero's weak penalty was saved by Hugo Lloris — Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Hugo Lloris guessed correctly and saved well to deny Sergio Aguero’s penalty kick

And in a 4-0 win over doomed Huddersfield last Saturday, it was the turn of Lucas Moura to shine, scoring a brilliant hat-trick and returning to the form which wrote headlines at the start of the season. He now has ten league goals to his name.

Kane is one of the best players in the world, but when he isn’t in the team, they do pretty well. And that presents a different challenge for opposing coaches.

Meanwhile, World Cup winning keeper Hugo Lloris will try to replicate the form he showed against City in the Champions League, saving an Aguero penalty, rather than his form against Liverpool when he handed the Reds a win with a clanger!

History

Head to head Manchester City vs Spurs results favour Spurs as a long-standing top end team in the Premier League, while City’s rise has been rather more rapid. The Whites have won 24 of the 47 clashes in the Premier League era with the Sky Blues registering 16.

City haven’t drawn at home this season, winning 16 and losing one, while Spurs is yet to have an away draw, winning 11 and losing six.

The Sky Blues’ win at Selhurst Park took them on to 150 goals for the season, in all competitions, and that leaves them just six short of the record they set back in 2014. They are likely to smash through that barrier over the next week or so.

Lucas Moura’s hat-trick at the weekend was the Whites’ 24^th in Premier League history, and that’s one more than Manchester City’s 23.