It’s been almost two weeks since we were treated to any City action, with the international break taking precedence over club football. This weekend The Blues are back, as Tottenham visit the north-west in the Premier League. Last season saw the double done over Spurs in these fixtures, but they’ll want to change that under a new regime.
After 7 games, it hasn’t been a poor start for Spurs under a new manager following Tim Sherwood’s summer departure. The Lilywhites are currently sixth in the table having won three games and drawn two out of seven they’ve played. They’ve been on the wrong end of some dubious results, like the 1-0 home loss against West Brom last month, but things are definitely turning around.
In terms of improving on their performance in this fixture from last season, it isn’t difficult – as many City fans will remember well, The Blues put six past their visitors without reply on a ruthless day. Navas put the home side in front within 15 seconds of the start, before Negredo, Agüero (2), Sandro (own goal) and another from Navas in the closing stages sealed a dominant and resounding win over the North London side.
Two months later, it was the turn of Spurs to host City, and they didn’t fare much better then. Agüero, Yaya, Džeko, Jovetić and Kompany scored in a 5-1 win that did nothing but boost the confidence and title chances of a Blues side that was in very high spirits after a brilliant couple of months.
Nacer Chadli has looked a very good player in Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs side this season, becoming an influential cog in the team. Unfortunately for visiting fans, the Belgian winger has been labelled a doubt for Saturday’s game due to a hip injury. On the bright side, Hugo Lloris (groin) should be back in the side. Despite this, Kyles Naughton and Walker (ankle and groin respectively) are both likely to miss the visit to Manchester.
In the home camp, there isn’t too much to worry Pellegrini injury-wise. Fernandinho (hamstring) misses out due to the injury he picked up just before the international break, and Samir Nasri (groin) is also still absent, but should be back in time for the visit to West Ham United next weekend.
In recent years, a certain rivalry has stemmed between City and Spurs. Whilst there has always been a sense of competition – older Blues fans will remember Ricky Villa’s jinking run in the 1981 FA Cup Final – it has intensified in recent years with both teams competition for that fourth Champions League spot. This may not be the case anymore due to City’s title challenging whilst Spurs haven’t endured the best spells under Andre Vilas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, but for a period when Harry Redknapp and Roberto Mancini were managers of these two clubs there was a definite rivalry.
Since that rivalry has subsided a bit, games have continued to remain competitive to say the least. Matches at White Hart Lane continue to be tough for The Blues, with their title chances ending there a couple of years ago (in the 2012-13 season). They’re either tough encounters, or City come away with a big margin of victory, like we saw last season.
However we only have to go back to November 2012 to think of the last time Spurs seriously troubled The Citizens on home turf; Sergio Agüero had to cancel out Steven Caulker’s opening goal, and the game would have headed for a draw had Edin Džeko not pulled a great volley out of the bag to win it at the end. Whilst it’s certainly fantastic to win that games, a lot of City fans will be hoping for a less stressful performance on Saturday, maybe just like last year’s.
