Opposition Preview: Manchester City | OneFootball

Tomorrow evening, Tottenham Hotspur will welcome Manchester City to North London, for match day 27 of the Premier League season.

This is the first time this fixture has been played in the Premier League since the infamous fixture last season, where Spurs 'lost' 2-0, and therefore denied Arsenal the chance to win the Premier League for the first time in twenty years. Oh no, what a shame.

Nevertheless, as Spurs fans hope for a win on this occasion, let's take a look at how our opponents are shaping up.

How things are going for Manchester City ahead of tomorrow's game

Everyone knows that City are in a serious down year. The four time defending Champions have already lost as many Premier League games (8) as they had the previous two seasons combined. They were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the fourth round by Spurs, and the Champions League play off round by Real Madrid. They are in the FA Cup third round, but played League One and Two opponents to get there.

Aside from the aforementioned Carabao Cup victory, Spurs also beat City in the league, winning 4-0 at the Etihad. Surely that would pave the way for some excellent form after, right? *Frank Lampard voice* no but seriously, Spurs should absolutely feel like they have every chance of making it three wins against Pep Guardiola's side this season.

It is clear that City are ageing. The likes of Ilkay Gundogan, Kevin de Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva don't look like the players they once were. They are all in their 30's now, and seriously lack athleticism, as City generally do as a team. Whenever there is space to play in, they seriously struggle to keep up with the physicality of their opponents.

They tried to address their situation in January, with the acquisitions of; defenders Abdukodir Khusanov from RC Lens and Vitor Reis from Palmeiras, forward Omar Marmoush from Frankfurt, and midfielder Nico Gonzalez from Porto.

However, it has not done much to address how overran they are in midfield. Although Gonzalez is a neat, deep lying midfielder, he is not super athletic, and City can still be overran in there. Reis has played just 45 minutes - against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup. Khusanov has had some good moments and some really poor moments, whilst Marmoush showed what he can do with a hat-trick against Newcastle United.

Interestingly, that hat-trick was scored with Erling Haaland on the pitch. In the two games since, albeit against better opponents, Haaland has been injured, and Marmoush has not scored. It was clear to see against Newcastle that the space Haaland creates by drawing opponents, allowed the Egyptian to exploit the defence. Since then, that has not been the case when leading the line on his own.

Aside from that, if Djed Spence starts at left-back, it will be a great battle with Savio down the right for City. On the left, Jeremy Doku dribbled past Trent Alexander-Arnold 12 times on Sunday, but with little end product.

Defensively, City have been really poor all season, and Spurs can definitely look to exploit them. They have conceded 37 goals in the league this season, the most they have conceded in a campaign since the 16/17 season - and that is with 12 games still to go.

Although City do have some top players, and a top manager - anything other than three points would be seriously disappointing here.