Manchester City vs Tottenham preview: Storylines, odds, prediction as slumping City hope to get back on track

You have to wonder what else Pep Guardiola could achieve at Manchester City. The Spaniard has agreed to one two year extension at Etihad which will take his tenure to over a decade after winning every trophy to fight for. He has single-handedly turned City into a global powerhouse with six Premier League titles, four Carabao Cups, two FA Cups and one Champions League.

Everything he’s touched has turned to gold, but you sense the tide turning ahead of this weekend’s clash with Tottenham. City have lost four in a row, one in the Carabao Cup, two league defeats and one Champions League defeat. Four defeats in a row is rare for any Guardiola side and leaves them five points behind leaders Liverpool. That hasn’t happened to City since 2006, when they were a mid-table club.

His squad has been plagued by an injury crisis all season. The club faces a potentially brutal verdict over its 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules. There are more reasons to sail off into the sunset than to stay, but Guardiola seems undaunted and still hungry for more.

“I felt I couldn’t leave now,” he said when asked why he had signed on for another two years. “Maybe the four losses were because of that. I think we deserve, after four losses in a row, to bounce back and try to turn the situation around.”

It is typical of a man who has known nothing but winning in his career as he tries to end the losing streak against Spurs on Saturday night.

Tottenham are the team that started City’s barren run – knocking them out of the Carabao Cup last month – and arrive at the Etihad looking to bounce back from their own low moment after they were beaten 2-1 at home by relegation favorites Ipswich before the international break.

Even before their home game against Villa, it seemed likely that Spurs could beat Unai Emery’s men and then lose to Ipswich. That’s exactly what happened but you don’t have to be clairvoyant to predict it.

Ange Postecoglou’s teams are very inconsistent and unpredictable and it is almost impossible to predict what kind of team will appear in Manchester this weekend. Guardiola will hope it’s the one beaten on the road against Newcastle, Brighton and Crystal Palace, and not the one who beat Manchester United, Aston Villa and West Ham.

City have an interesting history with Tottenham. Guardiola has lost more games against them (six) and conceded more goals (22) than any other opponent. In the same game last year, Spurs equalized in the last minute to make it 3-3. In their last 10 league meetings with the North London side, they have won three. Spurs have won five.

City hope a number of their walking wounded will return to full fitness this weekend. Rodri and Oscar Bobb remain but John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have all trained and are in contention. Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish also face late fitness tests, although City have suffered the blow of Mateo Kovacic’s out for a month.

Tottenham have also been hampered by injuries and have two key absences for this game. Micky van de Ven and centre-back partner Cristian Romero are both outwhich should leave the advantage to City. Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are long-term absences. Rodrigo Bentancur will be a big blow for Postecoglou when he starts his seven game suspension after his comments about teammate Son Heung-min.

Click here to follow Sports betting on The Athletic and get relevant stories in your personal feed.

Manchester City vs Tottenham odds

Venue: Etihad Stadium – Manchester
Time: 5:30 p.m. GMT (12:30 p.m. ET), Saturday
Streaming: Fubo (US only, try for free)

Form guide (league only)

Manchester City: 7-2-2, 23 points (2nd); LLWWW
Tottenham: 5-1-5, 16 points (10th); LWLWL

Match prediction

Manchester City 2-1 Tottenham

Manchester City losing a fifth game in a row would be a huge surprise and Guardiola will be well aware that he needs to start picking up results to get back into the title race. With a number of players set to return against Spurs, we should see a team that resembles more of the City that have blown teams away in the past. Tottenham usually make it to the big games, but without two of their best centre-backs against a team boasting Erling Haaland, it would take some effort to get a result at the Etihad.