It’s been a hugely disappointing two weeks for Manchester City, after earning a fine win against Everton to put them on the brink of Premier League success, City then lost 3-0 at Anfield in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final, then followed that up by throwing away a 2-0 first half lead against Manchester United at home, to lose 3-2 and ensure that they cannot now win the Premier League for another two games.

This was then followed by a second leg defeat in the Champions League to Liverpool when City, despite an excellent first half, once again capitulated after the interval, with goals from Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino cancelling out Gabriel Jesus early strike to give Liverpool a 2-1 win and thus eliminating City from the tournament.

Now on a busy weekend of Premier League action which features some crucial battles at the top and bottom of the table, City now travel south to London to face the in-form Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley in what promises to be an intriguing clash.

Tottenham v Manchester City Preview

The teams met in the Premier League back in December when Manchester City put in one of their most impressive displays of the season to win 4-1 at the Etihad with Gundogan, De Bruyne and Sterling (two) with the goals. Christian Eriksen got the lone reply for Tottenham in injury time in a game in which they were well beaten.

While City have gone on to all but claim the Premier League title, Spurs have bounced back well from that defeat and have moved clear of Chelsea and Arsenal in the race for the top four and they now look an odds-on certainty to be playing Champions League again next season.

Not only that, Spurs come into this game with just one defeat in their last six, that their Champions League loss to Juventus at Wembley, while Manchester City have now lost three games in a row and have lost four of their last six games. Indeed Spurs last defeat in the Premier League was that defeat against City back in mid-December.

Historically, things are very even between the two teams with 154 games being played between the two over the years, 35 of which have ended in draws. Manchester City have won 59 of those games while Tottenham have won 60.

Spurs have the better recent record of the two, winning three and drawing one of their last five matches with City, but since 2011, City have the upper hand in the fixture winning nine, to Spurs four with one draw and in those games there have been some big City wins (one 6-0, two 5-1’’s and two 4-1 wins).

Tottenham v Manchester City – Probable Teams

Tottenham’s only injury worry is right back Kieran Trippier who is struggling with fatigue which may lead to Serge Aurier reclaiming his place in the team. Other than that Mauricio Pochettino doesn’t have any other injury worries ahead of the game.

Probable Spurs team – (4-3-1-2) – Lloris, Aurier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Dembele, Dier, Eriksen, Alli, Son, Kane.

Manchester City will be without Fernandinho who is suspended for two games after racking up 10 yellow cards this season, while John Stones is doubtful and long-term injured Benjamin Mendy remains unavailable for selection.

Probable Man City team (4-3-3) – Ederson, Walker, Kompany, Otamendi, Delph, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Sterling, Jesus, Sane

The game kicks off at 7.45pm on Saturday evening and is to be shown live on Sky Sports.

Tottenham v Manchester City Top Tips

When looking at this fixture from a betting perspective, you can only assume that with both sides in somewhat freescoring form at the moment, there will be plenty of goals in the game. City will be desperate to avoid another defeat, but Spurs away in the Premier League is about as difficult as it gets at the moment and this is going to be a real test for City.

  • Match Result Tip – Draw (5/2 with Coral)

This is a game that I see being important for both sides not to lose, but perhaps less important that they win. Spurs won’t want their strong undefeated run to end here and City will be desperate to avoid another defeat. A draw for either side would not be a bad result and as such, I think that a 1-1 draw is the most likely result, although if we get an early goal, that could be a 2-2 finish in my view.

  • First Goalscorer Tip – Dele Alli (9/1 with Coral)

After being omitted by England for his two games with the Netherlands and Italy and giving the midfielder a warning to “grow up”, Dele Alli responded superbly by netting two goals against Chelsea to give Spurs a superb 3-1 win at the Bridge a short time ago. He now has a point to prove and he has a knack of getting goals in crucial games for Spurs. He’s much better value than Harry Kane (10/3) to grab the opener and with Sergio Aguero not fully fit, I think Alli offers the better value here of any player.

The other Premier League fixtures

In addition to the big match at Wembley there are a number of other Premier League fixtures taking place this weekend (3pm kick off unless stated) namely:

  • Southampton v Chelsea (12.30)
  • Burnley v Leicester City
  • Crystal Palace v Brighton
  • Huddersfield Town v Watford
  • Swansea City v Everton
  • Liverpool v Bournemouth (17.30)
  • Newcastle United v Arsenal (Sun 13.30)
  • Man Utd v West Brom (Sun 16.00)
  • West Ham v Stoke City (Mon 20.00)

I’ve gone through the games and picked out four that I think will offer me the best possible chance of a decent accumulator bet win with Coral’s 4+ Acca Boost promotion in mind. The four selections I have made for this (together with the odds as provided by Coral) are outlined below:

  • Crystal Palace to beat Brighton – 19/20
  • Huddersfield Town to beat Watford – 13/8
  • Tottenham to beat Man City – 29/20
  • West Ham to beat Stoke City – Evens

If you placed a £10 bet with Coral on this accumulator, it would return you £250.80 in winnings (odds of 25.08/1) and in addition to that hefty win, you would also receive a free bet to the value of £25.08 as part of the 4+ Acca Boost offer currently offered by Coral.