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Preview: Man City meet Spurs in lunchtime kickoff

Preview: Man City meet Spurs in lunchtime kickoff

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Thomas Frank has had a decent start as the new Spurs head coach, but he’s about to run into a Manchester City team with a point to prove.

By Ian King

Early season expectations

There isn’t much to go on this season, but both teams got off to convincing starts to their 2025-26 campaign, with City thrashing Wolves 4-0 at Molineux and Spurs brushing Burnley aside at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Both teams went into the new season not quite knowing what to expect. City’s 2024-25 agony didn’t ease any at the Club World Cup, while Spurs start under the highly Spursy contradiction of having had their worst league season in 48 years, but having also won their first trophy in 17.

History

Spurs have developed a reputation as City’s bogey team in recent years, and true to form they beat them in two of their three meetings last season, including a 4-0 win at The Etihad last November. City’s last home win against them came in January 2023, when they beat them 4-2.

Recent H2H results

Key Players

If there’s one player in the Manchester City team with a point to prove in this match, it’s winger Jérémy Doku, who was barely involved at Wolves and was hoicked off midway through the second half, having achieved little of note. With the rest of his team having put in an outstanding shift, Doku’s relative absence means that he’s going to need to improve to keep that place in their first team. 

Manchester City have a wealth of attacking options, so whether Spurs can get anything from this will come down to the competence of their defence. Step forward, then, Cristian Romero, whose agreement to a new contract with the club was a big deal, with rumours all summer that he could be on his way to Atlético Madrid. It was Spurs’ Champions League quality defence that got them so far in the Europa League last season, and they may need a similar level of performance from him on Saturday.

Team News

Phil Foden could return for City, though this match is likely to be a week too soon for the Spurs-linked Savinho, Joško Gvardiol, Claudio Echeverri or the long-awaited full-time return of Rodri. Mateo Kovačić is likely out until October. 

Spurs have no new injury concerns this week, but they’ve got enough on their plate with the serious injury picked up by James Maddison in the Super Cup final and the ongoing absence of Dejan Kulusevski. Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma could return, though at the time of writing there’s no word on whether either will be ready in time.

Prediction

Playing against two of this season’s expected Premier League flotsam and jetsam last weekend, it was difficult to tell just how much these two teams have improved on last term, but Manchester City’s new signings have bedded in well and their team performance on the opening weekend was seriously impressive. 

There’s been little from their two competitive games so far to suggest that Spurs haven’t significantly improved, but if Manchester City have got their mojo back it’s difficult to see how that would be enough to take much from this match. With so many goal-scoring options at their disposal, I’ll go 3-1 City, but the Frank effect coupled with Spurs’ decent record in recent years makes this slightly more difficult to call than it should be. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, physical metrics, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Preview: Man City meet Spurs in lunchtime kickoff

Thomas Frank has had a decent start as the new Spurs head coach, but he’s about to run into a Manchester City team with a point to prove.

By Ian King

Early season expectations

There isn’t much to go on this season, but both teams got off to convincing starts to their 2025-26 campaign, with City thrashing Wolves 4-0 at Molineux and Spurs brushing Burnley aside at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Both teams went into the new season not quite knowing what to expect. City’s 2024-25 agony didn’t ease any at the Club World Cup, while Spurs start under the highly Spursy contradiction of having had their worst league season in 48 years, but having also won their first trophy in 17.

History

Spurs have developed a reputation as City’s bogey team in recent years, and true to form they beat them in two of their three meetings last season, including a 4-0 win at The Etihad last November. City’s last home win against them came in January 2023, when they beat them 4-2.

Recent H2H results

Key Players

If there’s one player in the Manchester City team with a point to prove in this match, it’s winger Jérémy Doku, who was barely involved at Wolves and was hoicked off midway through the second half, having achieved little of note. With the rest of his team having put in an outstanding shift, Doku’s relative absence means that he’s going to need to improve to keep that place in their first team. 

Manchester City have a wealth of attacking options, so whether Spurs can get anything from this will come down to the competence of their defence. Step forward, then, Cristian Romero, whose agreement to a new contract with the club was a big deal, with rumours all summer that he could be on his way to Atlético Madrid. It was Spurs’ Champions League quality defence that got them so far in the Europa League last season, and they may need a similar level of performance from him on Saturday.

Team News

Phil Foden could return for City, though this match is likely to be a week too soon for the Spurs-linked Savinho, Joško Gvardiol, Claudio Echeverri or the long-awaited full-time return of Rodri. Mateo Kovačić is likely out until October. 

Spurs have no new injury concerns this week, but they’ve got enough on their plate with the serious injury picked up by James Maddison in the Super Cup final and the ongoing absence of Dejan Kulusevski. Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma could return, though at the time of writing there’s no word on whether either will be ready in time.

Prediction

Playing against two of this season’s expected Premier League flotsam and jetsam last weekend, it was difficult to tell just how much these two teams have improved on last term, but Manchester City’s new signings have bedded in well and their team performance on the opening weekend was seriously impressive. 

There’s been little from their two competitive games so far to suggest that Spurs haven’t significantly improved, but if Manchester City have got their mojo back it’s difficult to see how that would be enough to take much from this match. With so many goal-scoring options at their disposal, I’ll go 3-1 City, but the Frank effect coupled with Spurs’ decent record in recent years makes this slightly more difficult to call than it should be. 

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, physical metrics, and player ratings. Download the free app here.