Manchester City v Tottenham: Premier League – Live | Premier League

On November 24, 2024By Littum

Key events

Pep Guardiola is asked by Sky Sports if his new contract will give his team a positive boost. “Positiveness depends on the way we play … that’s how you have to perform … to win games … we’ve had a lot of injuries … a lot are coming back now which is good news for us … it’s nice to see players available to play.”

He is also asked who will take on the Rodri role in the Ballon’ d’Or winner’s absence now that Mateo Kovačić is out for a month. Rico Lewis? Pep smiles enigmatically. “You will see.”

The 15.00 kick-off is over, and it’s tight at the top. Arsenal beat Nottingham Forest 3-0, while Brighton won 2-1 at Bournemouth. Throw in Chelsea’s earlier 2-1 win at Leicester and the chasing pack are closing in on second-placed City. Meanwhile, ten-man Brentford’s stalwarts are pushing a goalless draw against Everton Spurs into the bottom half of the table, for at least a few hours.

Manchester City make three changes in the wake of their 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion. John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Manuel Akanji are back; Matheus Nunes and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey drop to the bench, while Mateo Kovačić is absent due to injury.

Tottenham also make three changes following their 2-1 loss against Ipswich Town. James Maddison, Yves Bissouma and Ben Davies return to the starting XI, with Brennan Johnson dropping to the bench, Cristian Romero injured and Rodrigo Bentancur suspended.

The teams

Manchester United: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Lewis, Gundogan, Silva, Savinho, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Ake, Grealish, De Bruyne, Nunes, Wright, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee.

Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Solanke.
Subs: Forster, Spence, Hardy, Gray, Bergvall, Olusesi, Johnson, Werner, Lankshear.

Judge: John Brooks
WAS: Michael Salisbury

Preamble

We’ve just had an international break and yet it feels like those two never left. They’ve hardly been out of the news all week: Pep Guardiola with his new two-year extension to his Manchester City contract, Spurs deal Bentancur Imbroglio. In that sense, there’s more of a feel-good vibe around City right now … but then Spurs have only lost their last two games, while City have lost their last four. Six and two threes.

The thing is, boys, look, listen mate, it’s Dr. Tottenham, they have been in this kind of situation before; City, in their modern guise, not so often. No pep at all. So it will be interesting to see the gilded champions try to make a comeback. They don’t enjoy playing Spurs either, and it’s not even the 1981 FA Cup Final-infused DNA: Spurs beat City’s reserves last month in the League Cup, while conceding last-minute blows on two of their last three visits to the Etihad, here and here. Those two games were sandwiched by this one, to be fair, and that will be the peg City hang their hat on today. All of this is a long-winded way of saying this could be fun, because recent history – and indeed both matches from the epic 1981 clash – suggest quite a bit something could happen. Kick-off is at 17.30 GMT. It’s on!