Despite this game being a battle between 12th and fifth-place in the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur will fancy their chances of beating Manchester City having been somewhat of a bogey side to Pep Guardiola’s men down the years.
The Lilywhites have won both meetings between these two sides in the League Cup and Premier League, scoring six goals to City’s one, and with Erling Haaland potentially being a doubt for Guardiola’s side, it could potentially be another long afternoon for the Cityzens.
Heading into this game, Tottenham have won their last two matches, while City have suffered emphatic defeats to Liverpool and Real Madrid, with their 2-0 and 3-1 defeats actually flattering their performances.
Prediction: Tottenham 2-1 Man City
On Wednesday night, 12th-place Tottenham Hotspur hosts fourth-place Manchester City in the Premier League game, as Ange Postecoglou’s men aim to have a strong finish to the final third of their league campaign, while City are desperately aiming to re-qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Date: 26/02/2025
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Time: 7:30pm
As previously mentioned, Tottenham have won both meetings between these two sides in the league and cup, having thrashed Manchester City 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium on 23rd November thanks to goals from James Maddison (2), Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson, just one month after dumping the Sky Blues out of the League Cup via a 2-1 scoreline.
Since then, Tottenham’s Premier League season has faded off badly, as they sit 12th-place, 11 points off the City in fourth-place, which in reality is a major disappointment having aspired to qualify for the UEFA Champions League via the league.
Consequentially, this means that Spurs are reliant on the UEFA Europa League to qualify for Europe’s premier competition. The Lilywhites finished fourth in the Group Stage with five wins, two draws and one defeat, meaning that they will go up against Dutch Eredivisie outfit AZ Alkmaar in the Round of 16.
In terms of other cup competitions, Spurs crashed out of the League Cup at the semi-finals stage via a 4-1 aggregate scoreline to Liverpool, while in the FA Cup, they suffered a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa in the Fourth Round.
Manchester City’s sole hope of a trophy relies on the FA Cup as they face Plymouth Argyle this weekend, however, they must focus on re-qualifying for next season’s Champions League first as they sit just two points above eighth-place Aston Villa, demonstrating just how tight the top half of the league table is.
The reigning Premier League champions will be wary of any upcoming away trips, as they have been dismal on the road when considering the standards that they have set in recent years. City have the 10th-best away record in this season’s top-flight, picking up just 18 points from 13 matches (five wins, three draws and five defeats).
As previously mentioned, Tottenham defeated Manchester City in the League Cup, while in the Champions League, City had a torrid campaign, as they scraped through to the Round of 32 play-off via a 22nd-place finish with 11 points from eight matches. This setup their tie with Real Madrid, where they were comfortably beaten 6-3 on aggregate.
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham will enter this game with confidence following their impressive 4-1 win over Ipswich Town at Portman Road, after narrowly beating Manchester United 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium thanks to a James Maddison goal.
Prior to that game, Ange Postecoglou’s side had suffered cup defeats to Aston Villa (2-1) and Liverpool (4-1) following a 2-0 away win at Brentford where Pape Matar Sarr scored late on to seal all three points after Vitaly Janelt put through his own net in the 29th-minute.
Manchester City
Manchester City enter this game off the back of three defeats in their last four matches, having been comfortably beaten 2-0 by Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday following goals by Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai. Just four days before that, City had been dumped out of the Champions League 6-3 on aggregate by Real Madrid following Kylian Mbappé’s superb hat-trick at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Guardiola’s side’s two victories in this sequence of matches have come against Newcastle United, as they thrashed the Magpies 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium thanks to a hat-trick from January signing Omar Marmoush and a goal from James McAtee. Prior to that, City had scraped through the Fourth Round of the FA Cup in less than convincing fashion as they narrowly beat League One outfit Leyton Orient 2-1 at Brisbane Road.