- Oct 17, 2006
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REFEREE: ------ Anthony Taylor ???????
TEAM FORM: - Spurs - DWWDW ------Man City - LWWWL - ( Competitions including pre-season)
Our Stadium will host a mouth watering contest on Sunday afternoon, as the champions Man City head to us in the Premier League. Man City will be looking to defend the title that they reclaimed last term, while we will be aiming to push closer to the top four in 2021-22, having finished a disappointing seventh in the top flight last season.
Now under the management of Nuno Espirito Santo, it will be fascinating to see what we achieve this season, and as expected, talk of Harry has dominated the build up to this contest; the England captain trained alongside our players Friday, but Nuno has refused to reveal whether the striker will play against the side that are desperate to sign him in the current market.
We have managed to boost our squad this summer with the arrivals of Bryan Gil, Pierlugi Gollini and Christian Romero, but it would be a monumental blow to us if we were to lose Kane, who is thought to be valued by our chairman Daniel Levy in excess of £160m.
Whether or not Kane plays this weekend, we have bigger fish to fry, with our team desperate to make a positive start to the season. Last term, we claimed seventh, but we were only five points off the top four, and Nuno will certainly be looking to move closer to the Champions League spots this season.
Not too much can be read into pre-season, but we impressed in our most recent friendlies against Chelsea and Arsenal, drawing 2-2 with the Blues before beating the Gunners 1-0 on August 8, and there was plenty for our fans to be positive about in the two contests earlier this month. We have a busy end to August, meanwhile, as we will take on Pacos Ferreira in a two-legged contest in the Europa Conference League, in addition to facing Wolverhampton Wanderers and Watford in the league.
Man City's 2021-22 campaign officially started last weekend, with the Citizens suffering a 1-0 defeat to Leicester City in the Community Shield, but it was an understrength side that took to the field.
Pep’s side certainly had their problems during the 2020-21 campaign, but a record of 27 wins, five draws and six defeats from 38 matches saw them collect 86 points, which left them 12 points clear of second-place Manchester United, showing the gap that potential challengers need to make up this term.
Man City have broken the British transfer record this summer to sign Jack Grealish, while they are still said to be actively pursuing Kane, despite Guardiola refusing to discuss him, when questioned on the situation during Friday's pre-match press conference.
Man City will believe that a positive result on Sunday would set them up nicely for back-to-back home matches against Norwich City and Arsenal to end the month, and it is vital that the likes of Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea manage to cling onto the champions in the early months of the season.
Man City were impressive in their last league clash with us, recording a 3-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium, but we won this particular fixture 2-0 last season, and it would be some story if Kane inspired us to an opening-weekend success here.
Team News
Nuno revealed on Friday that Kane was back in training with the club, but it would be a surprise to see him in the starting XI this weekend, so Son could lead the line.
New signing Romero is also a doubt due to an injury that he picked up at the Copa America, meaning that Sanchez could feature alongside Eric Dier in the middle of the defense.
Ndombele is not expected to make the squad, but Tanganga should start at right-back despite being forced off against Arsenal last time out.
Moura, Dele and Bergwijn could ultimately operate as the three behind Son, with Lo celso joining Hojbjerg in the middle of the park.
As for Man City, Foden remains on the sidelines due to a foot injury, while De Bruyne will not be involved, as the Belgium international is still not training fully with the club.
Sterling, Stones, Walker and Ederson are all ready following international commitments, though, and it would not be a surprise to see at least three of those start against us
Grealish is in line to make his Premier League debut for the Citizens, while Torres and Mahrez are also expected to feature in the final third of the field, with Jesus an option off the bench.
Head to Head
We first played each other on Saturday, 16th January 1909 in a FA Cup tie where we won by 4 goals to 3, playing away. Our first league game was on Tuesday, 27th December 1910, where we drew 1-1.
We have played each other 164 times where we have won 63, they won 65 and 36 Draws.
In the League they have won 58 times to our 53 with 33 Draws.
We have beaten them 6 times to their 5 in the FA Cup, 3 Drawn
We only played them in League Cup once, when they beat us earlier this year.
2021 / 2022 version of the Banner Courtesy of @chrissivad ( Its like a new kit!!)
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