Man City vs Tottenham Hotspur - Preview

        Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
        Saturday 18th October, Etihad Stadium
                              Kick Off 12:45
                     Referee: Jonathan Moss

Finally the International break is over and we can get back to league football, it has only been two weeks but it seems like an eternity since our last game, hopefully we will be raring to go.

 

It always feels like its a fresh start after an International break and where that might work for some teams, I don't think that the break came at the right time for us this time around.

We have taken eight points from our last four games which included games against Arsenal and Chelsea, we brushed aside Hull and Villa without breaking much of a sweat and were clearly starting to click, hopefully the break will not break our momentum.

 

As for Spurs, well I haven't managed to see a great deal of them this season so I cannot possibly judge them to much, they clearly have a talented squad and some outstanding individual players and will surely pose a threat.

 

Last season we smashed Spurs twice and although I am not expecting that to happen in this game, I still think that we will win the game quite comfortably.

 

Like I said I haven't seen Spurs play loads this season but when I have seen them play I felt like they were lacking defensively, a lot of their midfield is attack minded and the defence is not protected well enough, once you do break through what is effectively a two man midfield then you hit two centre backs that lack the pace to keep up with the likes of Silva and Aguero and I think that we will capitalise on that.

 

Man City Team News

Samir Nasri continues to recover from a groin injury, Fernandinho is expected to miss out with a hamstring problem and Eliaquim Mangala is also set to miss out after returning from International duty with a muscle injury, Yaya Toure only got back from International duty on Thursday and may be rested.

 

Tottenham Hotspur Team News

Hugo Lloris (thigh) and Nacer Chadli (hip) did not feature for their Countries this week but are likely to be fit enough to make Tottenham's match day squad at the very least, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb only returned from International duty on Friday and may be rested, Kyle Naughton (ankle) and Kyle Walker (pelvis) remain sidelined.

 

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Demichelis, Clichy, Milner, Toure, Fernando, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

 

Possible Tottenham Hotspur Line Up

Lloris, Dier, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose, Capoue, Mason, Eriksen, Lamela, Chadli, Soldado.

 

My Prediction

Man City 3 - 0 Spurs.

 

Worth A Bet

Pablo Zabaleta scores the first goal in a 3 - 0 Man City win @ 200/1.



Arsenal vs Man City - Preview

               Arsenal vs Manchester City
Saturday 13th September, Emirates Stadium
                           Kick off 12:45
               Referee: Mark Clattenburg


Firstly in case you thought I had done one again, unfortunately I haven't, there was an issue with my URL being recognised but hopefully it is sorted now.

Tomorrows game, both ourselves and Arsenal go into tomorrows game on the back of a poor result last time out and since I don't expect Arsenal or City to drop points so easily very often, I would imagine that we are in for a decent game tomorrow.

There is no doubt that we are or should be in for a tough game tomorrow, Arsenal have a quality group of players and a quality manager, the only thing I am not sure about is how good those players are as a team.
As I said Arsenal have some very good players but they haven't done anything yet that suggests that they are anything special as a team, a narrow win against Palace and two hard fought draws against Everton and Leicester, it doesn't exactly blow you away.
It doesn't mean I don't think they are capable though, it is obvious to see what Arsenal could achieve if everything clicks.
Wenger has made some good signings, in fact potentially great signings, of course there is Sanchez, but for me Welbeck could be a masterstroke, I wouldn't have minded him at City if I am honest because in attack minded teams like ours and Arsenal I am convinced that he will score goals.
A lot of people are discounting Arsenal when it comes to the title and personally I think that's a big mistake, I hope that we don't discount them on the pitch tomorrow.

If Arsenal haven't blown me away yet then I certainly can't claim that City have, the pathetic loss to Stoke is still annoying me.
We can't afford to play like that again this season, especially not during the next three games or we will end up on the end of a hammering.
On the flip side, if we play to our potential then we are going to hand out a lot of hammerings, I just hope that we can click tomorrow beat Arsenal and find a good level of consistency ready for the games that follow, for that to happen the whole team need to start pulling their weight, something that we haven't seen so far this season.

I am unsure of what I think the result will be tomorrow which is strange for me, I don't think either team has shown enough to predict a result based on form or feeling, my heart says that we will win because we are the better team, but my head is interfering with that feeling a little bit.
I don't think that we will get beat but maybe that we could draw, I will however go for a City win just because on paper as it were, we are the better team.

Man City Team News
Stevan Jovetic's bad luck with injuries continues after picking up a hamstring injury on international duty which will see him miss the game, Fernando also misses out with a groin injury.
Zabaleta picked up a knock on International duty but should be ok and Mangala could make his debut.

Arsenal Team News
Aaron Ramsey will face a late fitness test after injuring his ankle playing for Wales, Arteta (ankle), Ospina (thigh) and Gibbs (hamstring) are all expected to be available for selection, Mesut Ozil is also expected to be fit after spraining his ankle on national duty. Walcott and Gnabry both miss out with knee injuries and Olivier Giroud continues to recover from a fractured foot.

Possible Man City Line Up
Hart, Zabaleta, Mangala, Kompany, Clichy, Nasri, Toure, Fernandinho, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

Possible Arsenal Line Up
Szczesny, Debuchy, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Flamini, Alexis, Carzola, Ozil, Sanogo, Welbeck.

My Prediction
Arsenal 1 - 2 Man City.

Worth a bet
David Silva scores the first goal in a 1 - 2 Man City win @ 50/1.