GW 2: Manchester City vs. Tottenham

We’ve now witnessed the first week of Premier League action in the 2019/20 campaign and although we had some mouthwatering fixtures last week, none were quite as important as Manchester City vs. Tottenham on gameweek two. Due to impressive performances last season and also having completed smart business this summer, City and Spurs two of the favourites to win the league and most people expect that they have both already nailed down Champions League spots. This means that this match could have an effect on the title race come the end of the season and with a chance to make such a big impact so early on, it should be really exciting to watch. Last season Manchester City seemed far superior to their upcoming opponents after finishing first with a 27 point lead over Spurs who were in fourth. However; when they went head to head, the matches were always very close with a special tensity to them with Manchester City winning 1-0 in both of the two Premier League matches that they played against each other. These games were both very similar in the way they panned out with City dominating the match in almost every area while Spurs held a strong defensive line and tried to break on the counter while only showing marginal weaknesses. Both sides have seemingly got better over the summer though and it will be interesting to see if Spurs can break through against the champions this campaign.

City have got their season off to a flying start after a win against West Ham in matchweek one and they seem to be right where they left off last season. Their game against the Hammers ended in an emphatic 5-0 victory and although their performance definitely warranted all three points, the scoreline was fairly kind considering they managed an expected goals score of only 3.18 to West Ham’s 1.20. There were also a few minor issues with City’s play near the beginning of the match as their ability to evade the press was not as strong as usual while they also allowed West Ham to have decent amount of possession when going forwards which is very unlike them. You would expect all this to improve though, as it did in the second half, and with Rodri learning Pep’s system he should slowly become the centrepiece of City’s team. Against Tottenham, you would expect Guardiola to go with a very similar team to the squad he selected last week but perhaps with a few small changes. This could involve bringing Bernardo Silva back into the squad probably as a central midfielder, so that he can work in transition with De Bruyne. Aguero could also come back into the fold but it might actually be better if he were to start on the bench in this one, as Jesus performed well against West Ham and his off the ball running could cause Spurs’ older centre-backs some problems.

As briefly mentioned, Rodri will be the metronome of City’s side this season and from the base of midfield everything will go through him. In his first Premier League appearance he made 72 passes for his side with a completion rate of 90% which is already more impressive than Fernandinho’s 70 passes a game last season. He will probably leave most of the progressive work to the midfielders in front of him though, because his creative passing is not his strong point at this stage and he will be more focused on getting the ball into his midfield partners by means of short passing. Rodri will also be in charge of shielding City’s backline as his side’s most defensive midfielder, and when he was at Atletico Madrid he proved that he is an outstanding defensive player making 4.2 tackles and interceptions per match. Because of this, he will be frequently turning over possession before laying it on to the players in front of him. One of these players is Kevin De Bruyne who also looked brilliant in the first game of the season and now that he has seemingly put his injury problems behind him, he could yet again be City’s star man. Tottenham have a very strong midfield after acquiring N’dombele and Lo Celso during the transfer window so De Bruyne’s progressing ability will be even more important as they’ll want to evade the midfield and get it into the wingers with dangerous balls. Spurs are relatively weak in the full-back area so if De Bruyne is on his game we could see is trademark driven through ball being played quite frequently into his attackers.

Tottenham had a slightly rockier start than City as they left it late to come back against newly promoted Aston Villa. Despite dominating the match, Tottenham went behind early in this game but managed to turn it around in the end in order to win 3-1, with all of their goals coming within the final 20 minutes. This will have been slightly disappointing for them, as given the pre-season they had, they were expected to start the season with a bang, but right now, they still look to be in the same position as they were last year. One good game against City could change all of that though, and in their upcoming match, Pochettino has a lot to think about in terms of the tactics of the game. Tottenham could choose to play with a 4-1-2-1-2 formation which they started the last game with but given the success of the 4-2-3-1/ 4-3-3 that they played with at the end, you would think that they would want to continue with this shape. They changed to this when Eriksen came on in the 70th minute and it allowed more creativity in the final third, while Ndombele was allowed to drop deeper into a position where he seemed more natural. From here, they had more forms of progression and of course Harry Kane up front who will always be amongst the goals if he gets adequate service.

For this gameplan to work, Eriksen will be needed from the beginning this time, as he offers a calming and experienced presence. He completely changed the game against Villa and although Spurs were already dominating possession when he came on, he organized their attacks and he was able to control the play from his position at attacking midfield. He will definitely have less of the ball against City so his role might be required to change from a controlling passer to a progressor, where he will make more clinical passes in more attacking positions. Last season he was completing 2.37 key passes per 90 which was his worst tally since joining Spurs, however; it is still an elite number and perhaps is just indicative of the deeper role that he is growing into, and now, if he is given the chance to roam forward, his creativity will be key. Eriksen’s new midfield partner Tanguy Ndombele will also be crucial in this game, and after steadily improving in their last match he looks set to be a Premier League star. N’dombele will likely be used in the deep progressor role at the base of the midfield like he was towards the end of the last game, and he will be required to win back the ball from deep before bringing play up the field, usually through his superb dribbling ability. Manchester City tend to play with a very high press with one or even two of their central midfielders moving forward to pressure their opponent, but luckily, Ndombele is a master at breaking through a press and if he manages to find gaps in City’s midfield he could open the game up for Spurs.

At the moment, City are fairly injury free, however; they have a couple big problems that could keep some of their big players out for long periods of time. The most worrying of these is the injury that Leroy Sane suffered in the Community Shield final just before the start of the season, and Guardiola has confirmed that he could be out of action for more than half of the campaign. Benjamin Mendy is the only other senior player who will be missing for City, as he is still recovering from his knee problems from last year and although he is on his way back to full fitness, we’ll most likely have to wait another few weeks at least before seeing him play again. Spurs will also be missing a number of key players. Both Son and Foyth are currently suspended until the 25th of August, meaning they will be missing out on this game before returning against Newcastle while Davies, Alli and new boy Sessegnon are also likely to miss the game due to injury reasons. While Davies, Sessegnon and Foyth are obviously important members of the squad, they will quite likely be used as rotation options this year and their absences shouldn’t become a massive problem unless they are out for extended periods of time. Son and Alli will have been more helpful in this match though, as they are both top quality attacking players and their clinical ability up front would be perfect for a match like this, where their side will have less chances than usual.

City will likely dominate this game as they do against almost every team they come up against and in the end, the result of this match will depend on how sharp Spurs are when they get into the final third. This means that we could see another game like we did last season, in which City’s constant pressure is intertwined with slight forward pushes from Spurs where they will need to be critical if they are going to come away with anything from this trip to the Etihad. Given that Manchester City are at home, there is further reason to believe that they will be the stronger side, as they were incredible at home last year, winning 18 and losing only 1 while Spurs have surprisingly lost all of their last 6 Premier League away matches. City have also won all of their last 15 Premier League matches proving their consistency over the course of last season, and it looks like they are going to be at it again this year with a similar record. For these reasons, City look set to continue their winning streak even against some very tough opposition and although it would be exciting for someone to triumph over last season’s champions so early into the new campaign, it’s hard to see it happening. I predict a 2-0 Manchester City win.