Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City - The Opposition

Manchester City face Spurs for the second time in 17 days as the blues travel south for the return fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

City came back from 2-0 down to beat the North London side in January, and Antonio Conte’s side will be looking for revenge against a City side that is yet to score in Spurs’ new stadium. City have had indifferent results at the home of the Whites, but Tottenham have not had it all their own way at home this season, and the blues will be looking to capitalise on their own indifferent home form.

Form

Spurs have played 10 matches at home this season but, unusually for them, they have lost four and won six. They are the only side in the Premier League not to have drawn a match at home. Their last win on home soil came courtesy of a 4-3 win against Leeds United. On that occasion, Spurs were behind three times but, at 3-2 down, scored two goals in two minutes to take the three points.

Since then, they have lost 2-0 to both Aston Villa and Arsenal, with their other home losses coming against Liverpool and Newcastle (both 1-2). Spurs are the fourth top scorers in home matches in the Premier League, but their defence is also one of the worst. They have conceded 15 in ten home matches - only three teams, bottom club Southampton (17), mid-table Palace (16) and 8th-placed Fulham (16) have a worse home defence.

Who to watch

No doubt this will once again be billed as Harry Kane v Erling Haaland and it is definitely a battle of the Premier League’s top scorers. Kane is currently on 18 goals in all competitions, with 16 of those being scored in the Premier League. From his 29 games, Kane has had 71 shots at goal and a conversion rate of 25%. Son Heung-min has bagged just eight so far this season, and has had 55 shots in total. However, his goal conversion rate is a disappointingly for him 15%.

Rodrigo Bentancur, who scored the third equaliser and winner against Leeds in their last home win, has the highest goal conversion rate with 33%. Bentancur has had 15 shots from 24 games and, although that is the best conversion rate from the regular players, there is one that is way higher. Arnaut Danjuma has scored with every shot he has had on target. The problem? He’s only played one game and scored one goal, but he has a 100% goal conversion. Beat that Harry Kane!

Assists have fallen to Ivan Perisic. The Croatian joined Spurs at the end of last season on a free transfer had has been credited with nine assists from 28 matches. Perisic has created 33 chances overall, and attempted 681 passes, converting 498 and taking a pass accuracy of 73%.

Dejan Kulusevski has six assists from 17 matches while Pierre-Emile Højbjerg has four. Witn an 89% pass accuracy, Højbjerg has the highest percentage in the team. He has also attempted the most passes (1,720) and converted a very respectable 1,528. With 45, Kane has created the most chances, but only three have been converted, while Son has created 40, but also has just three scored. A worthy mention goes out to Bentancur too. Although he has only created 12 chances, two of which have been converted, he has the second highest pass rate in the team. Bentancur has attempted 1,246 passes and converted 1,082, a pass accuracy of 87%.

Who’s the boss?

Former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte is still in the Spurs hot seat, however he is likely to miss Sunday’s match after having his gall bladder removed. It is believed the operation went very well and we wish the Spurs boss well in his recovery from surgery.

Conte took charge in November 2021 and has presided over 66 matches. His record of 37 wins and 19 defeats gives him a win ratio of 56%.

Last time out

City scored four second-half goals in January as they came back from 2-0 to beat Spurs 4-2. Last time in London was a familiar story as City lost 1-0. The blues must at least score this time!