Tottenham travel to the Etihad on Saturday looking to inflict yet more pain on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Despite emerging as the early pacesetters in the Premier League with six straight victories, a recent slump – and the sublime form of Chelsea – has left City 10 points off the top.
Their title credentials have been severely questioned since Christmas following a narrow defeat at Liverpool and last weekend’s 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Everton.
Spurs, meanwhile, are enjoying their finest run of the campaign and cruised to a sixth straight victory with a 4-0 win over West Brom on Saturday.
Pep’s honeymoon period at City is certainly over and the 46-year-old needs to turn things around quickly at the Etihad. The Spaniard effectively ruled City out of the title race after the defeat at Goodison Park, and it appears Guardiola will face a battle just to qualify for the Champions League on current form.
But his side will be desperate to bounce back following a difficult spell and prove to the doubters that the hype at the beginning of the season was justified.
Despite City’s dismal display at Everton, Guardiola is not expected to ring the changes for the visit of Tottenham. Fernandinho is still suspended while Ilkay Gundogan and Vincent Kompany remain sidelined.
City did receive a boost in midweek, however, as Gabriel Jesus was finally cleared to feature for Guardiola after his summer move from Palmeiras.
The 19-year-old arrived in Manchester at the end of last year but remained on Palmeiras’ books until the end of the Brazilian domestic season.
For Tottenham, Argentine star Erik Lamela and Belgium’s Jan Vertonghen are both expected to miss the clash due to recent injuries, meaning Ben Davies and Heung-Min Son may come back into the side, or Eric Dier will slide back into defence.
Spurs will be feeling confident about this one.
Not only are they enjoying a superb run, but City’s belief must surely have been rocked after Guardiola suffered the worst defeat of his club career at Everton.
But the home side still possess arguably the best striker in the league, Sergio Aguero, and quality forwards in Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, so you’d be brave to predict a shortage of goals.
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