Super Sunday is upon us, with all eyes quickly shifting to Manchester City's highly-anticipated upcoming Premier League fixture. The defending champions will face none other than Tottenham in North London roughly two weeks after their unforgettable showdown at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola's men should enter this fixture with a bullish attitude following Arsenal's result on Saturday. With the Premier League leaders facing Everton a day earlier, many were initially wondering whether the Cityzens will maintain that five-point disadvantage over the Gunners or fall further behind in the table.
However, to everyone's surprise, Mikel Arteta's men suffered an unexpected 1-0 loss at Goodison Park, meaning Manchester City could move within two points of Saka and Co. with a win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The defending English top-flight champions will look to replicate their heroics from two weeks ago in order to slash Arsenal's lead at the top. In fact, it was only 17 days ago when Haaland and Co. pulled off a mesmerizing victory over Antonio Conte's men.
Despite boasting the home advantage in that tie, City found themselves two-nil down by halftime after a number of errors at the back right before the break. However, Riyad Mahrez, who has struggled for form for a number of months now, turned back the clock and put in a Man of the Match performance to seal a comeback triumph.
The Algerian scored twice and set up another goal en route to a much-needed 4-2 victory. The Cityzens went on to win their next two games, thrashing Wolves 3-0 and beating—surprise, surprise—Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup 4th round. Will they follow that up with another victory over Spurs?
While Manchester City are pursuing the Premier League title, Tottenham have a battle of their own. The North London giants are currently fifth in the table but entered this round only three points adrift of the top four.
Manchester United, one of their closest rivals, beat Crystal Palace 2-1 and have thus temporarily pulled six points clear, meaning it is imperative Harry Kane and Co. win this fixture.
Nonetheless, Spurs have struggled as of late. Despite winning their last two matches and three out of their last five games, the hosts have won only four out of their last 10 Premier League outings.
In fact, the North London heavyweights faced a top-six rival in two of their last three matches and lost on both occasions, going 2-0 down against Arsenal before being torn apart by Sunday's opponent.
Additionally, Conte recently underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder after falling ill with severe abdominal pain, as confirmed by the club. This means that while the Italian tactician might be in the stands to watch the affair, the highly-rated manager will not be in the dugout.
Team news
Tottenham: The home side have been handed a huge boost in the form of the return of Richarlison and Lucas Moura. This game comes too early for Pape Sarr, who's out with a hip issue, but exciting January signing Pedro Porro could make his debut in this fixture.
Manchester City: Joao Cancelo will be unavailable until the end of the season after completing a shock loan move to Bayern Munich after a rumored fall-out with Guardiola and the coaching staff. This means Rico Lewis is destined to start but John Stones is sidelined and will play no part in this tie. Phil Foden, on the other hand, has returned from a foot injury and will be hopeful of a start amid his dip in form.
Key stats
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Tottenham have beaten Manchester City in all of their last four home encounters (all competitions).
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Additionally, the Cityzens have failed to score in their last four trips to Spurs in all competitions.
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Guardiola's side have only lost three of their last 32 English top-flight games.
Broadcast listings
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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