On Sky
There Will Be Goals. If Daniel Day-Lewis was a striker, he’d be at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night. City and Spurs frequently serve up open, flowing football and this clash should be no exception.
Vital Quotes:
Mark Hughes
‘Playing teams who are more assured and have the confidence to test your ability result in a more open game and those are the type of games we enjoy. Tottenham play attacking football, so it should be a great game. It’s a game we’re looking forward to and we probably produce our best performances when we go up against teams of Tottenham’s calibre and mindset.’
Harry Redknapp
‘It’s no good shouting and screaming at players every week. What’s the point if you do it every week? Occasionally if things are going badly you can’t help yourself but blow off some steam – but not all the time. We drew against Aston Villa and Everton – which weren’t bad results. We didn’t play well against Wolves but that’s football. City are playing well. I saw them against Arsenal in the cup and they looked what I’d expect them to be – good, strong, with bags of ability in the team. Terrific players. How many times have they lost this year? Once. It tells you everything.’
VMC City Video Link: Mark Hughes’ Spurs Press Conference
Tottenham Hotspur Team News:
Luca Modric is likely to be on the bench for a second game on the comeback from four months out and Jermaine Jenas faces a late fitness test following food poisoning.
Player to watch: Robbie Keane
Who else? So often City’s nemesis the Eire skipper has lost none of his edge and will have to be shackled by The Blues rearguard if he isn’t to get a shot at his great pal Shay Given.
Manchester CITY Team News:
A lively fortnighthas begun to test City’s squad. Michael Johnson out for the season and Wayne Bridge out until the New Year.
These lads have now been joined by Shaun Wright-Phillips who has a nasty ankle bang which might not see him fit for next weekend.
Emmanuel Adebayor has been ill, not trained but has travelled to Laandaarn Taarn. Happily, it isn’t the swine flu the back in contention Nigel De Jong suffered.
Craig Bellamy is farcically banned for ‘diving’ so Rigsby Petrov or Robinho will be going at Vedran Corluka.
Player to watch: Carlos Tevez
My man to watch for the second game running. Tevez is tearing into the form of his life now fully fit and threatening a goal with every burst through on goal. If this proves to be as open as widely suggested, he’ll be right in amongst it.
Match Facts & Stats
The Blues are unbeaten in 13 games in all competitions.
Adebayor scored 6 goals in 7 league games against Spurs whilst at Arsenal.
Between the two sides in the Premier League Spurs have won 17 games to City’s 3.
City’s last 5 games at WHL have resulted in 2-1 defeats.
VMC Forum Link: MATCHDAY THREAD: Spurs v Man City – Wed. December 16 – 8:00pm KO UK Time
Ref Watch:
A G Wiley, Staffordshire
Wiley has taken some stick this season, most notably from Taggart but come through it. He takes charge of his first City game since our draw at Wigan in October. The Blues will be hoping for kinder refereeing than the shambolic display of Mark Clattenburg at Bolton. Current season record:Games:18, Yellow Cards:55, Red Cards:3
Match Prediction:
Too close to call. I’m expecting a busy night for Given and Gomes and their roles could prove crucial if this becomes a we’ll score more than you berserker. Both sides would take a point now. The laws of probability suggest City will ship a second
defeat sooner or later but I’m prediciting an odd goal win as we are due a league win in London. Johnny On The Spot? Spurs 2, CITY 3
Next Fixtures:
H: Sunderland, Sat 19 Dec 15h00 GMT
H: Stoke, Sat 26 Dec 15h00 GMT
A: Wolves, Mon 28 Dec 19h45 GMT
A: Middlesbrough Sat 2 Jan 15h00 GMT
H: the rags, LCSF, Wed 6 Jan 19h45 GMT