Manchester City vs. Tottenham: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Neither of these sides are in particularly good form so this isn't an easy one to predict. Recent head-to-head encounters have been dead even, with both sides winning twice and the other ending a draw from the last five meetings.

Both teams to score has occurred in all of the last four games of each time, so we expect that trend to continue here.

Ultimately, while Spurs have had success against City in recent years, they've only won once at the Eithad since 2016, and given their own run of poor form it feels like they're not in a good enough place themselves to take advantage of City's woes. Manchester City 2-1 Tottenham.

Manchester City are looking for a route out of a sticky situation as they take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this weekend.

• Date: 23/11/2024
• Kick-off time: 17:30
• Location: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Manchester City enter this game in one of the most difficult positions they've found themselves in since Pep Guardiola's first season in charge of the club. City have lost four consecutive matches, but even worse is that they've been performing at an alarmingly low level.

Guardiola's side have looked stale in attack and look very, very vulnerable defending opposition transitions, and with many of their squad members starting to age, many people are wondering whether this cycle has reached its inevitable end. Even then, though, Phil Foden has looked a shadow of the player he was last season, but that might be a consequence of fatigue given the number of minutes he played last season and how little rest he got during the summer.

It's also not necessarily unheard of for City to start a season slowly and gradually find their groove as the campaign wears on, it's certainly something they've done in seasons past, yielding great success. This does, though, feel a little bit different, with the team's problems much deeper.

Rodri's ACL injury has proved a monumental blow to the team given just how irreplaceable his profile is in this team. Given all the money that's been spent over the years, those in charge of transfers at the club must be kicking themselves over never signing a true backup.

City desperately, desperately need a win here; five straight defeats for a team that's won four league titles in a row feels unthinkable. City have had a lot of trouble with Tottenham over the years, though, so it really wouldn't be that surprising if their woes were intensified here.

Tottenham Hotspur currently sit 10th in the Premier League with 16 points from ten games. Spurs are having a difficult season in that they've shown flashes of real brilliance, but they've been massively hamstrung by their own inconsistency.

Under Ange Postecoglou, Spurs are one of the league's most exciting sides on their day but they're also prone to some real clangers. The team is a young one and it's not expected to be competing for the league title yet, but there is an expectation that they work their way back into the Champions League this season but as of now, that looks fairly doubtful.

They have all the ingredients you need to challenge for a top four spot: reliable, high-level forwards in Son Heung-min and Dominic Solanke, top international defenders in Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie and a nice blend of top-class midfielders in both deep and advanced areas in Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski. However, Spurs have too many amateurish defensive lapses that really undermine the good work they do going forward.

Ange Postecoglou has taken responsibility for his side's inconsistencies, but an acceptance of the problem is not enough, he'll have to solve it to save his own job. Postecoglou's job is not under immediate threat, but should he fail to finish in the top four this season, it feels unlikely he'll still be Spurs manager next season.

As mentioned, Spurs have enjoyed a reasonable amount of success against Manchester City over the years and if they can harness some confidence from those prior results, there's a decent chance they'll get something here.

This game will be televised live to all subscribed UK viewers on Sky Sports Main Event.

Manchester City Team News:

City will be lucky if they see Rodri again this season with the Spaniard's rehabilitation process well under way, while Oscar Bobb remains on the sidelines.

A number of City players missed international duty in the week so Phil Foden, Rúben Dias, Jack Grealish and John Stones are all doubtful for this game.

Predicted lineup: Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Aké, Gvardiol; Kovačić; Bernardo, De Bruyne, Gündoğan, Savinho; Haaland.

Tottenham Team News:

Spurs have their own injury issues with Richarlison, Micky van de Ven and Wilson Odobert all set to miss out with hamstring injuries.

Mikey Moore is also a doubt, while Rodrigo Bentancur is awaiting what will likely be a lengthy ban for a comment made about teammate Son Heung-min back in the summer, but that is unlikely to kick in before this weekend.

Predicted lineup: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Drăgușin, Udogie; Bissouma, Bentancur, Kulusevski; Johnson, Solanke, Son.

Manchester City enter this game woefully out of form having lost their last four on the bounce. Last time out, City were stunned by a late Brighton comeback as they lost 2-1 on the south coast after Erling Haaland had given them the lead.

Prior to that, City were hammered 4-1 away at Sporting CP following Phil Foden's opening goal, a result that was preceded by a 2-1 loss at Bournemouth.

Those results followed a 2-1 defeat at the hands of this weekend's opponents in the EFL Cup, which came after a 1-0 win over Southampton, courtesy of Haaland.

Tottenham's most recent game was a shock 1-2 defeat at home to Ipswich Town, a result that has really piled the pressure on the team.

Before that, Spurs were beaten 3-2 in Turkey by Galatasaray, despite goals from Will Lankshear and Dominic Solanke.

That result followed successive wins, first against Aston Villa by four goals to one, courtesy of Brennan Johnson, Solanke (X2) and James Maddison, and second against Manchester City thanks to Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr.

A 1-0 loss away at Crystal Palace preceded those results.

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