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OPPONENTS |
Manchester City |
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COMPETITION | Premier League | ||||||||||
DATE | Saturday 18th October 2014 | ||||||||||
VENUE | Etihad Stadium | ||||||||||
PREVIEW
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While Spurs will travel North to the Etihad hoping for a better
outcome from last season's mauling at the feet of Manchester City,
there might be a familiar journey home, but perhaps an improvement
in the performance might make that a little more palatable.
Last season's game couldn't have gone worse, with Lloris' early mis-kick
ending in a goal within two minutes and then there was Lamela's shot
against the post at 0-1 before City went on to add five more, one of
which was a Kaboul own goal. Since then City have gone on to win the Premier League title and sign more expensive players, although pegged back a little by the Financial Fair Play scheme. Their squad is the envy of the league and with players such as Alvaro Negredo allowed to leave, his absence has not been devastating to the team. Others play a peripheral part, where they might be regular starters at other clubs. So Spurs have a tough task on their hands, especially as they are still settling in to Poch's style and tactics. How he has tinkered with them to try and bring something home from Manchester, we will hope that the way he broke up Arsenal's play and with a strong performance from our defence, we got a point out of that game, which might have flattered us a bit. However, the performance rather than the score might be an indication of how close Mauricio is getting to bringing the team to a level where they can compete with the top four. Joe Hart will probably keep Willie Cabellero out of goal for this game, although whoever takes the gloves might be in for a quiet lunch-time. I imagine that Spurs might attempt to give possession to the hosts like they did at Arsenal, but attempt to shut them out in our own final third, while trying to hit on the break. The starting back four will probably feature Pablo Zabeleta, perhaps tucking inside alongside Vincent Kompany, with two former Arsenal full backs who know what it is like to be beaten by Spurs in Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna, but City will be without the haphazard new signing Eliaquim Mangala, who scored an own goal and gave away a penalty at Hull a couple of weeks back. Kompany is a rock at the heart of the defence, but Zabaleta is suspect against pace, while Sagna and Clichy's desire t ogo forward can leave them exposed to quick counter-attacks. Other defensive options are offered by full back and dead ball expert Aleksander Kolarov and Martin Demichelis, who looked more like a pub player than a Premier League player last season, but had a good World Cup and is less of a liability for City. The dis-likeable Frank Lampost is now lining up in a different shade of blue, but expect plenty of badge-kissing by this objectionable midfielder. City have a wealth of other midfield talent, so there will probably be places for David Silva, who finds himself in areas that he can do damage in and Jesus Navas, who thrives on getting wide and finding good service in to the forwards. James Milner, is a more defensive minded version of Navas and is an industrious worker, with both Fernando and Fernandinho being players who work box-to-box and like to get forward, using the ball when when they win it. City could be without two players who could be influential in Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure. Toure dominates midfield with his lazy looking but powerful performances, while Nasri pops up in the box and can be effective in the hole behind the two front men. Edin Dzeko is a classy striker who doesn't mind how he gets the ball in the net, always being on the spot and capable of a good finish, while Argentine Sergio Aguero has been maintaining his ratio of goals to minutes as high as he can, but he hasn't been a regular starter in the City line-up. Stevan Jovetic has come good this season after missing a large part of the last campaign with injury. As for Spurs, there are difference sin the set-up, which might still take up AVB's 4-2-3-1 formation, but the people fitting into it are better honed to know their roles and with an emphasis on fitness in training, they may be better suited to the pressing game no than the one the Portuguese coach wanted to implement. Certainly, we look quicker on the break and may be able to cause problems that way, as long as Adebayor can stay on-side. Having said all that, I hope Tottenham can give it a go, as Stoke did well getting in City's faces and came away from the Etihad with a win. I am not sure Spurs will achieve that and I can see them losing out ... but by fewer than last season. |
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PREDICTION | Manchester City 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0 | ||||||||||
Click here for more info on opponents - stats v thfc , an alternative history, etc. | |||||||||||
TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR TEAM NEWS : Spurs have doubts over Hugo Lloris and Nacer Chadli, who returned from international duty with knocks, while Kyle Walker misses out as he continues his recovery from hip surgery and Kyle Naughton is getting loser to a return from the bad tackle in the Southampton match, but he won't be back for this match. Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb wer eboht late returning from playing in the African Cup of Nations last week and may not have recovered to play at the Ethiad. |
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MANCHESTER CITY TEAM NEWS : Eliaquim Mangala will be ruled out with a groin injury and Samir Nasri similarly kept out of the game. Fernandinho will return after pulling a hamstring, but Yaya Toure might sit the game out after travelling to African Cup of Nations duty in mid-week. |
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COVERAGE :
TV For coverage in all parts of the world, check here.
Radio : If
available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard
in these countries on these stations ...
Internet : |
Manchester City 4 (2) Tottenham Hotspur
1 (1) Premier League Saturday 18th October 2014 Kick off 12:45 Etihad Stadium |
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Goal-scorers | ||||
Aguero 13m 55s Aguero (p) 20m 51s Aguero (p) 68m 28s Aguero 75m 51s |
Eriksen 15m 35s | |||
Cards | ||||
Navas (foul on Chadli) 56
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Mason (foul on Ferdandinho) 34 Dier (foul on Clichy) 38
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Crowd : 45,549 | Weather : Dry and mild | |||
Referee : Jon Moss (Leeds) | Assistant Referees : Mr. S. Long; Mr. S. Bennett | |||
Fourth Official : Michael Oliver | - | |||
Manchester City kicked off and played towards the West Stand end in the first half. | ||||
Game time : - 90 + 4 minutes. | ||||
Manchester City : | kit | Tottenham Hotspur : | kit | |
1
Joe HART
3
Bacari SAGNA
15
Jesus NAVAS
10
Sergio AGUERO
Unused subs: |
1
Hugo
LLORIS
15
Eric DIER
29
Etienne CAPOUE (19
Mousa DEMBELE 60)
11
Erik LAMELA (17
Andros TOWNSEND 60)
Unused subs: |
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Manager : Manuel Pellegrini | Manager : Mauricio Pochettino | |||
Sponsor : Ethiad Airways | Shirt sponsor : AIA | |||
Kit Supplier : Nike | Kit Supplier : Under Armour | |||
Match report This is a match report that I felt I have read somewhere before. Was it the Man City home game last season or was it the one away from home ? It is becoming all a little too familiar and I don't just mean the loss to the Light Blues, but the level of refereeing that leaves Spurs punished for matter which are a figment of the officials imagination. Spurs probably deserved to lose, but not in the manner that Jon Moss forced them to. With Federico Fazio coming
in for Jan Vertonghen and Soldado for Adebayor, Spurs had an unusual
look to their line-up. The rest of the side were in their
normal positions, with Nacer Chadli and Hugo Lloris overcoming the
knocks picked up on international duty. City took the
opportunity to rest Yaya Toure, such is their depth of squad and
James Milner got a rare start. Anthony Spicer |
PUB
FACT* Before 2008, nobody knew Manchester City existed.
Their sky blue shirts have
made Manchester City a prime target for attracting advertising from
airlines. And with Manchester meaning "land of sun and warmth"
in Abu Dhabi, it was an obvious step for the Royal family of that
country to sponsor the club. |
Match sponsors | - |
Match sponsors | - |
Match ball sponsors | - |
Match programme sponsors | - |
Match shirt sponsors | - |
What you thought | |
East Stan |
I'm not sure I agree that this was a match report I have read
before. Apart from missing chances we made, the attacking
intent looked better than of recent games and Soldado played well
... his weedy penalty excepted.
And as we are doing with
Liverpool, so we are with Manchester City. Working down from 6
to 5 and now 4, in three matches time, we might get a pint off them
!! |
- | -. |
Other scores during this week : | ||||
Arsenal | 2 | Hull City | 2 | Saturday |
Crystal Palace | 1 | Chelsea | 2 | Saturday |
Everton | 3 | Aston Villa | 0 | Saturday |
Newcastle United | 1 | Leicester City | 0 | Saturday |
Burnley | 1 | West Ham United | 3 | Saturday |
Southampton | 8 | Sunderland | 0 | Saturday |
Stoke City | 2 | Swansea City | 1 | Sunday |
QPR | 2 | Liverpool | 3 | Sunday |
West Bromwich Albion | 2 | Manchester United | 2 | Monday |
League Table | |||||||||
P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD | ||
1 | Chelsea | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 8 | 22 | +15 |
2 | Manchester City | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 8 | 17 | +10 |
3 | Southampton | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 5 | 16 | +14 |
4 | West Ham United | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 11 | 13 | +4 |
5 | Liverpool | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 12 | 13 | +1 |
6 | Manchester United | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 12 | +3 |
7 | Arsenal | 8 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 13 | 11 | 11 | +2 |
8 | Swansea City | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 10 | 11 | +1 |
9 | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 11 | -1 |
10 | Stoke City | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 11 | -1 |
11 | Hull City | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 14 | 10 | -1 |
12 | Aston Villa | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 10 | -8 |
13 | Everton | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 16 | 9 | 0 |
14 | Leicester City | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 9 | -2 |
15 | West Bromwich Albion | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 11 | 9 | -1 |
16 | Crystal Palace | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 14 | 8 | -3 |
17 | Sunderland | 8 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 15 | 8 | -7 |
18 | Newcastle United | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 7 | -6 |
19 | Burnley | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 4 | -9 |
20 | QPR | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 4 | -12 |
Position before match :
6th
Position after match : 6th
Position after the weekend :
* Pub facts may not actually be true, but after a few pints everyone will think so.