Tomorrow night’s visit to White Hart Lane gets the blood pumping through my Blue veins as yet another important game between the two perennial losers of English football will undoubtedly turn out to be a cracker.
With Spurs in fifth and City in sixth and with their squads, on paper at least, the envy of all but Chelsea, one would think that both clubs are harbouring silent but deadly serious hopes of breaking into the top four places.
For years City and Spurs fans have been forced to live in the unglamorous shadow of their more popular and successful siblings whose names escape me at them moment.
Not in the Daniel Baldwin mould though, more like Prince Harry to Prince William.
What similarities do the clubs hold, well both have had a knack of producing some swashbuckling sides over the years with a culture of pleasing the neutrals rather than their fans.
Traditionally pleasing on the eye and exhilarating going forward both sides have defences with a soft centre.
The latest Spurs and City sides are no different really with outstanding attacking talent mixed with defensive frailties at the back.
The Defence
City’s much criticised defence has been the equivalent of a group of village idiots locked in the stocks having rotten veg thrown at them in a Medieval Town square. Yet does it deserve the ridicule it so publicly gets when other teams are no better?
At the start of last season City had Joe Hart and Richard Dunne in their ranks along with Vedran Corluka.
A year later and over sixty million has been spent on the likes of Shay Given, Wayne Bridge, Kolo Toure and Joleen Lescott whilst the likes of Hart, Corluka and Dunne had all left the club to flourish at Premier League rivals.
Spurs have also spent millions on their defence since last term, with the likes of Vedran Corluka and Pascal Chimbonda brought in to stop the rot.
Are both sides better defensively this term? According to the statistics Tottenham have conceded 22 goals in 16 games to City’s 21 in 15. City conceded 23 in 15 games at the same stage last season and Spurs 21 in the same time.
Last season at the same stage City were in an impressive 15th with 17 points and Tottenham in 16th with 15 again proving that the two are never that far apart.
This term however the two sides lie in fifth and sixth respectively even though their defences have been just as porous.
So it seems that almost every year City and Spurs are fighting for the same places and current league positions show that there are no intentions to buck the trend.
Chelsea 16 37
Man Utd 16 34
Arsenal 15 31
Aston Villa 16 29
Tottenham 16 27
Man City 15 26
Liverpool 16 24
Birmingham 16 24
Fulham 16 23
The reason for the dramatic ten place difference lies further up the field where both teams are again proving that there are no more exciting teams to watch in the Premiership.
The Attack
Spurs have Luca Modric and Tom Huddlestone in the engine room flanked by the jet-heeled Aaron Lennon and the explosive Defoe with 12 league goals up front.
City have Steven Ireland and Carlos Tevez (five goals) backed up by Bellemy(5), Wright-Phillips and Robinho to provide the attacking options, whilst Adebayor(6) and Roque Santa Cruz do their best to keep up with play and get the ball of them.
The Gaffers
Then we come to the managers Mark Hughes and Harry Rednapp and perhaps we can see some more similarities. Both are well respected in the game and are supremely confident in their charges.
Both are well liked by their fans but have not fully convinced them of their abilities to take their teams to the next level, namely an automatic Champion’s League place.
The Future
By the end of the Christmas period both clubs will know where they stand and in hosting Sunderland and Stoke and then playing Wolves, City will perhaps feel less pressure to get three points on Wednesday night.
They also have the added bonus of a game in hand over their rivals to calm any nerves too.
Tottenham on the other hand have just lost to Wolves at home and after City go into a game away to Blackburn, before hosting the unpredictable Fulham and West Ham.
History
There are many games that have seen the clubs shine in the lime light but the following three stick out in my time as a Blues supporter.
BR>Ricky Villa Blues! F
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All the King’s Horses! QF
10 man surprise
So another season another and another Spurs-City game of importance. Who comes out on top will have the impetus with which to steam roll through the busy Christmas schedule with confidence.
If Ol Harry can convince the Spurs board to invest in January then City and Spurs could be yet again the top spenders in the Premier League, but both sets of fans will be hoping for a different accolade come the end of the season.
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