Manchester City will lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium in the highlight Premier League fixture of the weekend.
Spurs face a swift rematch with Manchester City having dumped them out of the Carabao Cup fourth round last month. The Sky Blues and the Lilywhites are looking to get back on track after suffering 2-1 defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Ipswich Town respectively before the international break.
The loss away at Brighton condemned Pep Guardiola to a fourth successive defeat for the first time in his illustrious managerial career. Meanwhile, inconsistency has been a real issue for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who find themselves 10th in the league table.
Ahead of the fixture, we take a look at the key battles that could decide the outcome of the game:
#1 Erling Haaland vs Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies
Fresh from netting four goals across two games for Norway over the international break, Erling Haaland will head into Saturday’s game with a spring in his steps. The Manchester City goal-machine has not been at his ruthless best this season, yet he has 12 goals in 11 Premier League outings.
Monitoring Haaland’s movements in the final third is difficult as he is swift and physical. The task of handling the Norwegian will fall on the shoulders of Tottenham centre-backs—Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies.
Radu 💫
💪 @BetMGMUK pic.twitter.com/iK0kbU633L
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) November 22, 2024
Spurs centre-back duo Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are both major doubts with respective hamstring and foot problems, so Postecoglou will be forced to pair Davies with Dragusin. Once the lineups are out, Haaland will be licking his lips at the prospect of facing Davies and Dragusin.
#2 Savinho vs Destiny Udogie
Savinho has shown enough potential to suggest he will have a big future at City. Bagful of tricks, smart, creative, and quick, the Brazilian international can cause problems for the Tottenham defence.
He could start on the right flank against Spurs, and if that happens, Destiny Udogie will be tasked with keeping him quiet. The Tottenham starlet must curb his attacking instincts if he intends to neutralise Savinho’s threat.
Having come on in the last seven minutes of Italy’s 3-1 defeat to France in the UEFA Nations League encounter on Tuesday, Udogie will be fresh to start the game at the Etihad Stadium. If Udogie can perform his duties to the standards expected of him, Savinho could struggle to gain a foothold in the encounter, while allowing the rampaging Italian to invert into midfield and join in the visitors’ attacking moves.
#3 Yves Bissouma vs Bernardo Silva
After Rodrigo Bentancur’s seven-game domestic ban, the question is who replaces him at the base of Spurs’ midfield? Yves Bissouma appears to be the ideal candidate to start in the No.6 role, acting as a shield for the shaky Tottenham backline. The Malian must keep things simple and not commit unnecessary fouls in promising areas for City to take advantage of.
With his dribbling, vision, and movement, Bernardo Silva could cause problems for the Spurs backline. The diminutive Portuguese will try exploiting the gaps in midfield, something Bissouma should look to cut out.
If Bissouma can tame Silva, Tottenham’s chances of getting a positive result against City will become higher.
