You have to wonder what more Pep Guardiola could achieve at Manchester City. The Spaniard has agreed to a two-year extension at the Etihad that will take his tenure to over a decade after winning every trophy up for grabs. 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 has touched has turned to gold, but you sense the tide turning ahead of this weekend’s clash against Tottenham. City have lost four in a row, one in the Carabao Cup, two losses in the league and a Champions League defeat. Four defeats in a row is unheard of under any Guardiola team and leaves them five points adrift of leaders Liverpool. It hasn’t happened to City since 2006, when they were a mid-table club.
His squad has been cursed by an injury crisis all season. The club are facing a potentially brutal verdict over their 115 charges for allegedly breaking the Premier League’s financial rules. There are more reasons to sail off into the sunset than stay put, but Guardiola appears undeterred and still hungry for more.
“I felt I could not leave now,” he said when asked why he had signed on for another two years. “Maybe the four defeats was why. I think we deserve, after four defeats in a row, to bounce back and try to turn the situation.”
That’s typical of a man who has known nothing but winning in his career as he bids 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 favourites Ipswich before the international break.
Even before their home clash against Villa, it seemed plausible Spurs could beat Unai Emery’s men and then lose to Ipswich. That’s exactly what happened but you don’t have to be a clairvoyant to predict that.
Ange Postecoglou’s side are wildly inconsistent and unpredictable and it’s almost impossible to predict what kind of team will turn up in Manchester this weekend. Guardiola will hope it’s the one that was beaten on the road at Newcastle, Brighton and Crystal Palace, and not the one that thrashed Manchester United, Aston Villa and West Ham.
City do have an interesting history with Tottenham. Guardiola has lost more games against them (six) and conceded more goals (22) than any other opponent. In this same fixture last year, Spurs scored a last-minute equaliser to draw 3-3. In their last 10 league meetings with the North London side, they have won three. Spurs have won five.
City are hoping to have a number of their walking wounded return to full fitness this weekend. Rodri and Oscar Bobb remain out but John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have all trained and are in contention. Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish face late fitness tests too, though City have been hit by the blow that Mateo Kovacic is 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 out, which should hand the advantage to City. Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are long-term absentees. Rodrigo Bentancur will be a big blow for Postecoglou as he starts his seven-game ban after his comments about team-mate Son Heung-min.
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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); L-L-W-W-W
Tottenham: 5-1-5, 16 points (10th); L-W-L-W-L
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 he needs to start picking up results to get back in 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 has blown teams away in the past. Tottenham usually get themselves up for the big games, but without two of their best centre-backs against a team that boasts Erling Haaland, it would take some effort to get a result at the Etihad.
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(Photo of Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland: Patricia de Melo Moreira / AFP via Getty Images)
