GN_Punk: I haven’t picked against the boys yet, but while City didn’t pull a result against West Ham last week, I watched that match in terror realizing what City are absolutely capable of.
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Silva has performed only light training duties in the last 48 hours and the Citizens don’t want to take any unnecessary risks with the 29-year-old. The Algerian has been sidelined after picking up an ankle injury earlier in the month, while the England worldwide has been missing since being taken off after scoring the victor against Sunderland on 13 September.
However since the worldwide break the momentum has begun to falter with a very late three points against Crystal Palace and their European woes continued last week with a 2-1 defeat to Italian champions Juventus which was followed by their first league defeat with their 2-1 loss at the Etihad to West Ham United.
Will Ben Davies (centre) be among the Tottenham players taking on Manchester City?
With the arrival of Manchester City this weekend, there’s no room for error, so we have created a five-point guide as to how they can save themselves from the reoccurence of these and come out on top.
Unfortunately, things did not go the way they planned and they lost 2-1 at home to suffer their first defeat in the season but they still had enough to keep their place atop the league.
One worrying factor for Pelligrini is the availability of captain Vincent Kompany, and David Sylva who is now recovering from a calf injury. Kane has played in all seven matches spurs have played this season with league matches coming as a starters. He scored all of City’s five goals against them last season, and has eight in his last four against Spurs.
Manchester City have had an extra day to prepare for this after their easy League Cup win over Sunderland on Tuesday.
We might have expected City to dribble through the opposition more frequently with Sterling in the team, when in fact they are completing around the same number of dribbles as last season (10.8 per game, down from 11.4) but making more key passes (16.5, up from 14.0).
Wilfried Bony, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, Kelechi Iheanacho, Eliaquim Mangala and David Silva are all out for Manchester City.
We could be waiting patiently for the goals to arrive in this clash, with these two sides having conceded the division’s highest percentage of goals in the second half so far this season.
The performance at the Stadium of Light in midweek proved the exact opposite and therefore it might look like a win to give City fans confidence, but all is not completely rosy for their club at the moment.
Kevin De Bruyne – Signed for £55m from Wolfsburg in August, De Bruyne has made an instant impact in a Manchester City shirt.
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Kane will spearhead the attack again despite his low-profile start to the season, while Son, who has three goals under his belt already, will support. On the other end, look for a Son to Kane goal that gets Spurs supporters dreaming.
